No. 6 Houston too much for Flyers in Charleston Classic title game

Here’s a quick recap of the game:

What it means: Dayton (3-2) finished runner-up in the eight-team tournament. It opened the event with victories Thursday and Friday against LSU and St. John’s. Both of those teams finished 2-1 in the tournament. In short, the tournament went as well as Dayton could have hoped until the final game.

Houston (6-0) beat Towson, Utah and Dayton en route to the championship. It has won every game this season by double digits.

Houston’s stars: L.J. Cryer scored 18 points on 6-of-14 shooting. Jamal Shead had 16 for Houston. Cryer and Shead combined to made 6 of 11 shots from 3-point range.

Dayton’s stars: Daron Holmes II scored 16 points, and Nate Santos had 14.

Key stat: Houston made 8 of 20 3-pointers (40%), while Dayton made 4 of 18 (22.2%).

Turning point: Houston led 36-28 at halftime and outscored Dayton 9-2 in the first five minutes of the second half to push its lead to 45-30. The Cougars led by as many as 20 points in the second half.

Looking ahead: Dayton plays Youngstown State (3-2) at 7 p.m. Friday at UD Arena.

FIRST-HALF RECAP

First Half Recap

Key players: Cryer scored 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting for Houston. He made 3 of 5 3-pointers.

Santos also scored 13 on 5-of-6 shooting. He made 3 of 3 3-pointers.

Key stat: Houston turned 11 offensive rebounds into nine second-chance points. Dayton had two offensive rebounds and two second-chance points. Houston also outscored Dayton 10-2 in points off turnovers.

Big run: Houston outscored Dayton 10-0 from the 16:56 mark to the 14:09 mark, turning a 4-4 game into a 14-4 lead.

Bench contributions: Zimi Nwokeji had a highlight-reel dunk off an alley-oop pass from Kobe Elvis and had two points in four minutes. Isaac Jack made both of his field-goal attempts and scored four points in just under five minutes.

HISTORY LESSON

Dayton entered this game with a record of 2-4 against top-25 teams in coach Anthony Grant’s first six seasons.

• This was Dayton’s first game against a top-25 opponent since it beat No. 4 Kansas 74-73 on Nov. 26, 2021, in the semifinals of the ESPN Events Invitational.

• In Dayton’s previous game against a ranked opponent, it beat No. 22 Saint Louis 76-71 on Jan. 26, 2021.

• In the 2019-20 season, Dayton lost 90-84 to No. 4 Kansas in the Maui Invitational championship game.

• Dayton lost twice to ranked teams in the 2018-19 season: 66-59 to No. 4 Virginia in the semifinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis; and 82-78 at Auburn.

• In Grant’s first season, Dayton lost 81-56 at No. 18 Rhode Island on Feb. 23, 2018.

This was Dayton’s first game against a team ranked first in the Ken Pomeroy ratings since it lost to Kansas in Maui in 2019. Virginia was also No. 1 when it played Dayton in the Bahamas in 2018. Dayton played another top-ranked KenPom team on Dec. 31, 2006, losing 81-51 at North Carolina.