Bennett’s Second-Half Surge Lifts Flyers Past Seminoles
(Photo via Carson Caprella)
Gabriel Ward | Sports Editor
DAYTON, Ohio – The University of Dayton men’s basketball team defeated the Florida State Seminoles 97-69 Tuesday night in front of 13,407 fans at UD Arena. The victory was the Flyers’ third win over a power conference team this season.
It was a sloppy opening five minutes for the Flyers, as despite having the lead 8-5 in that span, they were not able to hold onto the ball and committed five turnovers from 17:00 to 14:57 remaining in the first half.
Despite the slow start, the Flyers were able to get off and running thanks to De’Shayne Montgomery. Montgomery had 16 first-half points, which included being a perfect 5-5 from the free-throw line.
The aggressive style of play by both teams led to multiple reviews in the first half. After a foul on Florida State’s AJ Swinton with 9:07 remaining in the half, the referees went to the monitor and deemed it to be a flagrant one foul. After the review, players on each team had to be separated at midcourt. Amael L’Etang made both free throws to give the Flyers a double-digit lead at 20-10. Dayton carried the momentum from the flagrant into a 12-2 run, and after back-to-back Montgomery alley-oops, the Seminoles were forced to call a timeout.
With four minutes remaining in the first half, there was another heated moment, forcing the referees to give both Dayton’s Malcolm Thomas and Florida State’s Swinton dead-ball technical fouls. That technical put Swinton in foul trouble, as it was his third foul of the first half.
With 2:06 remaining in the first half, Montgomery drew a foul away from the ball. After Flyers head coach Anthony Grant pleaded with the officials for a review, they did indeed go to the monitor. However, after the review, they kept the call on the court as a common foul.
Dayton got a defensive stand to end the half and carried a 42-31 lead into the locker room.
The second half was dominated by the Flyers thanks to Javon Bennett’s offensive explosion. Bennett only had two points in the first half, both free throws, but in the second half, he poured in 23 points to help the Flyers run away with the game. Bennett was the only Flyer with a double-digit second-half point total, and he was also a perfect 10-10 from the free-throw line in the half.
The second half was filled with heated moments, the first of which came early, when, with 17:13 remaining in the half, Florida State head coach Luke Loucks received a technical foul. Bennett converted both technical foul free throws and then made a three-point shot on the ensuing possession to give the Flyers a 53-37 lead.
With 13:26 remaining in the game, a Bennett three, followed by a Montgomery layup, and then another Bennett three, forced Florida State to use a timeout. However, Dayton got a stop, and Montgomery found Thomas in transition for a dunk, extending the Flyers’ lead to 67-45.
Dayton reached their largest lead of the game with 5:16 remaining as a 6-0 run, capped off with two Bennett free throws, gave the Flyers a 28-point advantage for the first time in the game as Dayton led 87-59.
There was one final tense moment in the game. With 3:28 remaining, Derkack drew a foul from Seminoles’ Cam Miles, and Lajae Jones took a swipe after the whistle. Derkack was restrained by teammate Keonte Jones, and after the play, the officials checked the monitor. Following the review, it was determined that after the play, there was a contact dead-ball technical foul on Lajae Jones. The common foul on Miles also stood; those were both Lajae Jones’ and Miles’ fifth foul, making them the fourth and fifth Seminole to foul out on the night.
The Flyers cruised to a 97-69 win over Florida State and now have wins over two Big East teams and an ACC team en route to their 9-3 start. Florida State falls to 5-6 on the year.
Dayton will face the Liberty Flames on Saturday, Dec. 20, at UD Arena. The game will tip off at 12:30 p.m. and can be seen on the USA Network.