Men’s Basketball Recap: Dayton Does Damage From The Floor To Down Duquesne

Carley Roberts
Contributing Writer

Dayton’s men’s basketball team used their best-shooting half in team history (83 percent from the floor in the second half) to defeat Duquesne Wednesday night at UD Arena 86-73.

Heading into the half with a 29-26 lead, indications pointed to another underwhelming night of offense. But the Flyers (11-12, 5-6) opened up the second half on a 15-5 run and ended up scoring 59 points in the final 20 minutes to dominate the Dukes (15-10, 6-6).

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“We talked about trying to better the defensive effort from the first half and that we can play better offensively,” said coach Anthony Grant after the game.

“And obviously you look at the numbers offensively in the second half our guys did an outstanding job.”

Senior Stardom

Senior guard Darrell Davis, the team’s second leading scorer, hit five of eight field goal attempts (two of three from three-point range) to score 20 points. With a three-pointer in the second half, Davis scored his 903rd career point, passing Grant (1937-1987) on Dayton’s scoring list.

Davis, along with redshirt junior Josh Cunningham, have now scored in double figures in 12 consecutive games.

Cunningham continued his stellar season with 21 points and 11 rebounds, including three dunks in the first half, good for his 13th double-double of the season.
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Ball Movement

The Flyers’ ball movement was a key factor in their second-half lead, as they recorded 25 assists to Duquesne’s 10.

Dayton ended the game making seven consecutive shots to finish the contest shooting 64.6 percent overall from the floor.
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What’s next?

The Flyers travel to Richmond, Virginia to take on VCU on Saturday. After dominating VCU at home in January, Dayton will be looking to continue their success against their conference rival.

“It’s going to be a hostile environment; they are going to cause a lot of havoc,” Darrell Davis said.

“Every game brings a different challenge. We have a different challenge facing us on Saturday.”

Photos Taken By Griffin Quinn/Staff Photographer