Flyers Men’s Basketball Rout Canisius 88-48 in Opener
(Photo via @daytonmbb Instagram)
Gabriel Ward | Sports Editor
DAYTON, Ohio — The University of Dayton men’s basketball team defeated Canisius 88-48 at UD Arena Monday evening in their first regular-season game of the 2025-26 season.
The Flyers’ offense went through Javon Bennett in the first half, as he had 16 points on 7-8 shooting along with an assist. He added four more points in the second half to finish the game with 20 points. De’Shayne Montgomery would also impress on the offensive end as he was able to hit three shots along with five free throws to score 12 first-half points.
Late in the first half, with 5 seconds remaining, Montgomery rebounded a missed three-point attempt by Kahlil Singleton and appeared to be forced to take a desperate shot; however, a foul by Canisius’ Mike Evbagharu with one second left sent him to the free-throw line. Montgomery converted both to send the Flyers to the locker room, up 51-27 at halftime.
The second half was more of the same as Dayton continued to dominate; however, now the scoring was more spread out.
Amaël L’Etang would lead the Flyers in second-half scoring with eight points. Followed by Jaiun Simon, Bryce Heard, Bennett and Montgomery, who each scored four second-half points, respectively.
The last key moment of the game would be with 3:16 remaining and Dayton up 78-45. Flyers freshman forward Damon Friery would be fouled after a missed Canisius free throw and would head to the line for two shots of his own. After missing the first show, Friery would hit the second attempt to score his first career college point. Friery would later hit two more free throws with 32 seconds remaining to finish the game with the first three points of his career.
The Flyers’ 88 points would have been the third-most points scored all of last season, behind only the 93 points that they scored in a win at Fordham and the 90 points that they scored in a two-point loss against North Carolina in the Maui Invitational.
The Dayton men’s basketball team will return to the court on Saturday when it takes on the UMBC Retrievers at 2 p.m. in UD Arena. The game will be televised on FanDuel Sports Network Ohio and can be streamed on ESPN+.