Dayton Snaps Skid With 72-70 Win Over St. Bonaventure
(Photo via daytonmbb Instagram)
Gabriel Ward | Sports Editor
DAYTON, Ohio – The University of Dayton men’s basketball team defeated the St. Bonaventure Bonnies 72-70 in an Atlantic 10 matchup on Tuesday evening at UD Arena. Despite the Flyers entering the game on a four-game losing streak, the longest such streak since the 2013-14 season, 13,207 fans packed into UD Arena to watch the game.
The story of the first half was Dayton’s guard play. Javon Bennett led both teams in first-half scoring with 16 points, going 5 of 7 from the field and converting on four 3-point shots. Off the bench for the Flyers, Jordan Derkack scored nine points of his own, mostly from the free throw line. With 13:25 remaining in the first half and the game tied at 10 points apiece, Derkack drew a foul on a three-point attempt and made two of the three free throws.
As the Flyers’ offense clicked, St. Bonaventure was struggling to keep up. With 4:26 left in the half, the Dayton guards continued their dominance as Derkack found Bennett for a 3-pointer, which he made to bring the score to 33-24, UD ahead. Shortly after, the Bonnies trimmed the lead down to seven thanks to a Cayden Charles layup, but two made free throws and a layup by Amael L’Etang put Dayton up 37-26 with 2:13 remaining.
The Flyers ended the first half with an exclamation point. With under a minute remaining in the half, Malcolm Thomas blocked Frank Mitchell’s layup attempt. De’Shayne Montgomery grabbed the rebound and quickly found Bennett on the offensive end. Bennett hit a 3-pointer to extend the Flyers’ lead to 13. St. Bonaventure responded on the other end with a Charles layup, making the score 41-30, Flyers ahead at the half.
The second half was a completely different game as the Bonnies’ offense finally began to show what it is capable of. In the first half, St. Bonaventure went 0-8 from behind the arc but was able to knock down four second-half 3-pointers.
From 17:37 to 12:22, the Bonnies went on a 14-0 run and gained the lead for the first time since it was 13-12. The run began with two free throws from Dasonte Bowen, and then Mitchell, Charles and Daniel Egbuniwe all scored layups, and finally both Darryl Simmons II and Egbuniwe made 3-pointers. Derkack finally stopped the bleeding for Dayton when he made a layup to put Dayton back on top, 49-48.
In the final 10 minutes, the lead changed countless times, and neither team went up by more than a single possession. With 1:24 left in the game and St. Bonaventure up 68-67, Montgomery missed a 3-pointer, but Derkack grabbed the rebound and was fouled, sending him to the free-throw line. Derkack split the pair and tied the game up at 68.
The Flyers got a defensive stand, and Bennett put UD ahead 70-68 on a layup with 48 seconds left. The Bonnies, however, responded as Mitchell drew a foul and made two free throws to tie the game.
On Dayton’s final possession, L’Etang passed the ball to Derkack, who drove to the rim and was fouled with 2.3 seconds left. Derkack converted both free throws, and on the Bonnies’ final play, Simmons missed what was called a 3-pointer on the court as Dayton held on to win, 72-70, snapping their four-game losing streak.
The win improved Dayton’s record to 15-8 and 6-4 in conference play. For the Bonnies, the loss dropped them to 13-10 and 2-8 in conference play.
Dayton will return to action on Friday, Feb. 6, when they travel to Richmond, Va., to take on the VCU Rams at the Siegel Center. The game will tip off at 7 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN2.