Roche, a patient ambassador for Shriners Children’s Ohio, visited the team in practice a day earlier, and the coaches and players learned about her health issues.
“She’s terrific,” Grant said. “She’s got great energy.”
The same could be said of the Flyers in the final nine minutes. They rallied from a 60-45 deficit to beat LSU 70-67 in the first round of the Charleston Classic. A 3-pointer by Koby Brea tied the game with 47 seconds to play. A 3-pointer by Nate Santos with 4.1 seconds remaining won the game.
However, it was an intense, full-court pressure defense that changed the tide.
“That helped us get back in the game,” said Dayton guard Javon Bennett, who had the assist on the two late 3-pointers. “We picked up the pressure, and I feel like that affected them. We were able to get buckets off that. The momentum just took off from there.”
Dayton (2-1) bounced back from a 71-66 loss Friday at Northwestern and won a first-round game in Charleston for the first time after first-round losses in 2012 and 2017. Here are three takeaways from the game:
1. The Flyer Faithful played a part in the victory: The Flyers tied the game at 30-30 on a basket by Isaac Jack on their final possession of the first half only to see LSU take a 32-30 lead on a jumper in the final seconds. LSU then pushed its lead to 40-30 with an 8-0 run in the first two minutes of the second half.
Dayton saw the deficit balloon to 15 on a 3-point play by Jalen Reed with 9:07 to play. At that point, the energy of hundreds of Dayton fans, who vastly outnumbered the LSU fans, played a part in the comeback, energizing Dayton at the same time as the Flyers turned up the pressure on defense.
“It was amazing,” Santos said. “It was the definition of Flyer Faithful. They came down here, and they were electric. They were definitely part of the comeback.”
Credit: David Jablonski
2. LSU coach Matt McMahon also credited the Dayton defense: The Tigers, who fell to 0-3 all time against Dayton, committed 15 turnovers. Dayton scored 18 points off those turnovers.
“I think we had eight turnovers in the second half, and it kind of snowballed on us,” McMahon said.
McMahon was proud of his team’s response to a 19-2 run. Tyrell Ward made a 3-pointer with 2:14 to play to give LSU a 65-64 lead. A layup by Derek Fountain on the next possession extended the advantage to 67-64.
Then Dayton got two offensive rebounds, which led to the tying 3-pointer by Brea.
“Up three with 50 seconds to go, it was a good defensive possession,” McMahon said, “and we weren’t able to secure the defensive rebound.”
3. LSU limited Dayton start DaRon Holmes: Holmes scored eight points on 2-of-9 shooting, ending a streak of 13 straight double-digit games.
“They were just making it really difficult on him,” Grant said, “and he’s going to see that the rest of the year. This team obviously had 7-footers. They had four 6-10 guys. They clogged the lane. I think he was a little anxious. We know he’s a much more capable player in terms of finishing. But that’s the mark of a team, right? Can you play well when what you do well isn’t going well? He impacted the game for us. We needed him on the floor. He found a way to help his team win a game tonight when scoring wasn’t an option.”
STAR OF THE GAME
Dayton had 14 offensive rebounds to LSU’s four and 10 second-chance points to LSU’s four.
STAT OF THE GAME
Nate Santos played the best game of his career: The transfer from Pittsburgh, a junior guard, scored a career-high 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting. He made 3 of 6 3-pointers.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Flyers (2-1) will face St. John’s (2-1) in the semifinals of the eight-team event at 2 p.m. Friday (ESPN2). St. John’s beat North Texas 53-52 in the first game of the day Thursday.
FRIDAY’S GAME
Dayton vs. St. John’s, 2 p.m., ESPN2, 1290, 95.7
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