Late rally falls short as Dayton falls to Cincinnati in Hoops Classic

Here’s a quick recap of the game:

What it means: Dayton (10-3) finished non-conference play with its first loss outside the Maui Invitational. The Flyers saw a five-game winning streak end.

Cincinnati (9-1) won its third straight game and avenged an 82-68 loss to Dayton in the Hoops Classic last season.

Stars of the game: Dan Skillings Jr. led Cincinnati with 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting. He made 5 of 5 free throws.

Nate Santos and Malachi Smith each scored 13 points for Dayton.

Stat of the game: Dayton committed a season-high 17 turnovers. It averaged 8.9 turnovers in the first three games. UC outscored UD 15-9 in points off turnovers.

Big comeback: Dayton trailed 53-35 with 7:36 to play and 61-50 with 3:29 to play. A 7-0 run cut Cincinnati’s lead to 61-57 with 2:01 to play. Dayton then had a chance to cut the deficit to two points, but a reverse layup by Nate Santos rolled off the rim with 1:22 to play.

Cincinnati clinched the victory by making four straight free throws.

Smith led Dayton with six turnovers. Enoch Cheeks had three.

Looking ahead: After a break for Christmas, Dayton returns to action at 2 p.m. Dec. 31 against La Salle (7-5) at UD. It will be the first of 18 Atlantic 10 Conference games.

La Salle beat Fairleigh Dickinson 77-72 on Wednesday to end a three-game losing streak and plays Immaculata University, a Division III program in its final non-conference game Saturday.

HALFTIME RECAP

Dayton played its worst offensive half of the season and faced a 25-17 halftime deficit.

Here’s a quick recap of the first half:

Key players: Dan Skillings Jr. led Cincinnati with six points on 3-of-6 shooting.

Nate Santos made 2 of 5 field goals and 2 of 2 free throws for Dayton, scoring six points.

Key stat: Dayton committed 11 turnovers in the half. That’s more than it has had in nine games this season.

Slow start: Dayton scored four points in the first 11 minutes, all at the free-throw line. Santos scored Dayton’s first field goal with 8 minutes, 45 seconds left in the half.

Cold shooting: Cincinnati built a 13-point lead despite making 3 of 17 3-pointers. Dayton missed all seven of its 3-point attempts.

Important sequence: Dayton had a chance to cut the deficit to 3-points, but Malachi Smith missed a 3-pointer with 50 seconds to play. After a Posh Alexander turnover, Cincinnati pushed its lead to eight points on a jumper by Dillon Mitchell with 18 seconds remaining.