Dayton falls in heated rematch against Saint Louis 72-61
The Flyers fought, but couldn’t mount a comeback after a 17-point deficit. Photo of the men’s game against Rhode Island on Jan. 28 by Keegan Gupta, Flyer News.
Nicholas Radosevich | Contributing Writer
The Flyers men’s basketball team lost to the Saint Louis Billikens 72-61 Saturday afternoon at Chaifetz Arena.
Dayton (15-8, 7-3) jumped out to an early 3-0 lead on a Kobe Elvis 3-pointer, but the Billikens (16-6, 7-2) answered with a 9-0 run and never gave the lead back. They entered the half with a 34-25 lead.
Elvis led the way for the Flyers, scoring 20 points and grabbing 1 rebound. Elvis has now scored 20 points in back-to-back games.
The second half was a back-and-forth affair, as both teams scored 36 points each. SLU’s Marten Linssen scored 17 points off the bench, going 5-5 from the field. Yuri Collins added 16 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists in the win.
The Flyers shot just 41.5% (22-53) from the field, and 38.5% (5-13) from 3-point range. Saint Louis shot 49% (23-47) from the field and hit 44.4% (8-18) of their 3-point attempts.
After a dunk from SLU’s Jordan Nesbitt with 1:46 left in the game, tensions flared between former SLU player Jordair Jett and Dayton’s Malachi Smith. Smith was retrieving the ball after the dunk, and words were exchanged. Coach Anthony Grant had to be separated from the altercation, and Jett was escorted out of the arena.
According to The Spun, Jett was being honored at Saturday’s game for being inducted into the Saint Louis Hall of Fame.
Coach Grant received a lot of love on Twitter from the fans for sticking up for his players, and his energy is bound to motivate his squad going into the next game.
Dayton looks to bounce back at home as they take on Duquesne (6-13, 1-6) Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
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