Santos stepped to the line and made two free throws to cut Duquesne’s lead to 57-55 with 6 minutes, 17 seconds remaining Tuesday at UD Arena. At that point, No. 16 Dayton seemed to be on its way to a tense finish in a game that had been seen four lead changes and four ties in the first 26 minutes.
A sellout crowd of 13,407 wondered if this would be the night the 2023-24 Flyers would stumble against a low-ranked opponent, something that has happened to every great UD team over the years, except the 2019-20 team that finished 29-2. Through the first 23 games, one of the strengths of Dayton’s NCAA tournament resume was that it had no bad losses — no defeats at home or outside Quadrant 1 of the NCAA Evaluation Tool.
Even Duquesne, a team stuck in the bottom half of the Atlantic 10 Conference standings and one that hadn’t won in Dayton in 12 years, presented a danger.
“We said at the beginning this was a gauntlet,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said. “I don’t think that this league gets enough credit for how talented the players are and how well coached the teams are. This is a hard league to win in. I’ve been in a few. This is a hard league. You’ve got really talented players that we’re going against and really good coaches that come up with great game plans. There’s a level of focus that opponents play with, whether it’s playing at Dayton or Dayton coming to them, that we should be used to by now. We should understand it. But that’s kind of what it is. I think, more than anything, I’m proud of the way the guys closed. I thought the defense really carried the day.”
The free throws by Santos started a 22-0 run that carried Dayton (20-4, 10-2) to a 75-59 victory. A six-minute scoring drought doomed Duquesne (14-10, 4-7), which only avoided being shutout in the final six minutes with a basket on its last possession with nine seconds remaining.
Credit: David Jablonski
How did Dayton seize control in such convincing fashion? Here’s a breakdown of the game-deciding run:
5:37: After the two free throws by Santos, Duquesne’s Jimmy Clark III missed a 3-pointer, but Fousseyni Drame grabbed the offensive rebound. This time, David Dixon tried a 3 and missed.
Duquesne built a 22-11 lead in the first half by making 10 of its first 14 shots, but it was about to hit a cold spell.
5:35: Dayton guard Kobe Elvis missed the front end of a 1-and-1, but Santos grabbed the rebound and drew a foul. He made the first free throw to cut Duquesne’s lead to 57-56 but missed the second. Again, Dayton got the offensive rebound. This time, DaRon Holmes II, who led Dayton with 24 points and 11 rebounds, made both free throws to give Dayton a 58-57 lead at the 5:28 mark.
5:20: Dayton turned on the pressure defense and trapped Duquesne guard Dae Dae Grant at halfcourt. Enoch Cheeks, who scored 10 points, got the steal and was fouled right in front of Grant by the scorer’s table. Grant pumped his fist. Cheeks made both free throws to give Dayton a 60-57 lead.
Grant felt the press was needed at that point.
“We needed to be more aggressive to try to take them out of the comfort zone,” Grant said. “We had a really tough time in the half court getting stops on a consistent basis. They would get find holes in our defense early in the clock or make shots late in the clock. They’ve got a variety of different guys that can shoot the ball. They got a variety of different guys that have the skill, that can make plays off the dribble. We were having a tough time getting consistency of stops. We decided, ‘Let’s change it up and let’s make them have to do something else.’ Fortunately for us, you know I think that changed the course of the game.”
4:53: Cheeks came up with another steal on Duquesne’s next possession, took the ball the other way on the fast break and was fouled at the rim. He made both free throws to give Dayton a 62-57 lead.
The game was slipping away from Duquesne.
“I felt like maybe we got a little tired,” Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot said. “It wasn’t anything complicated. We just made a few mistakes. We missed two box outs on the free-throw line, too. Then we missed open shots. We had some open looks. I mean they’re good. They’re 16th in the country for a reason.”
4:18: After a missed 3-pointer by Drame, Santos threw an entry pass to Holmes, who spun toward the hoop and scored to extend Dayton’s lead to 64-57.
3:27: Duquesne missed another 3-pointer, and Dayton answered with a 3-pointer by Koby Brea. The Flyers showed good ball movement on the play. Brea drove the lane, jumped and passed to Holmes outside the 3-point line. Holmes quickly swung the ball to his left to Elvis. After faking a shot, Elvis took one dribble to his right and then threw a no-look pass to Brea, who was wide open in the corner.
Brea held up one finger as he got back on defense. The Flyers led 67-57. The slow start in the first half and inconsistent play early in the second half was all but forgotten.
“When we all have that same energy and we play connected like that, I feel like we’re unstoppable,” Brea said.
3:00: Dambrot received a technical foul for arguing with the officials. Elvis made 1 of 2 free throws. The Flyers made 16 of 23 free throws (70%) after making 9 of 18 (50%) in their previous game.
2:46: Holmes had the ball stolen by Clark as he dribbled outside the 3-point line but blocked Clark’s shot on the other end as Clark tried to score on the fast break. Drame then missed another 3-pointer.
2:08: Holmes dribbled into the paint and made a short jump shot over two defenders to give Dayton a 70-57 lead.
1:46: Grant, who was averaging 17.3 points but scored 11 points in this game, missed a 3-pointer.
1:17: Brea buried another 3 from the same spot in the corner to extend the run to 20-0. He finished with 12 points.
Brea regained the national lead in 3-point shooting percentage, making 4 of 5. He’s shooting 48.9% (68 of 139). Virginia’s Isaac McKneely began the night ranked first in the nation but made 2 of 6 Tuesday and now is shooting 47.3% (61 of 129).
“The biggest thing I say when people ask me about (his shooting) is I wouldn’t be able to do it without the trust from my teammates and the coaching staff,” Brea said. “They do such a good job of giving me confidence and telling me whenever I get it and I’m open, shoot it. I can’t go wrong like that. It wouldn’t happen if we didn’t have such a good team.”
0:15: After another missed 3 by Grant, Elvis ended the run with a layup, giving Dayton a 75-57 lead. A basket by Jake DiMichele with nine seconds left ended Dayton’s run. The Flyers almost pitched a shutout in the last five minutes for the second straight game. VCU didn’t score in the last 5 minutes, 58 seconds against Dayton but still won 49-47 on Friday.
This time, Dayton found a way at the crucial moment to take over the game. That’s something it has done over and over this season.
“I’ve got to take my hat off to Duquesne,” Grant said. “I thought they set the tone to start the game. I wasn’t pleased with the way that we started from an energy standpoint, from an effort standpoint. I thought in the first eight to 10 minutes, they kind of took the fight to us. After that, our guys responded to close to half pretty well. Obviously, it was back and forth for most of the (second) half. We could never really get separation. The last eight minutes or so of the game, it came down to really our guys’ grit and toughness and determination. They showed great poise. I think it’s a product of not only who they are as competitors, but kind of what they’ve been through over the course of the season.”
SATURDAY’S GAME
Fordham at Dayton, 1:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network, 1290, 95.7
Credit: David Jablonski
About the Author
