DAYTON – The University of Dayton men's basketball team defeated Robert Morris on Saturday afternoon at a sold-out UD Arena by a score of 60-51. 

The Flyers were led by DaRon Holmes II, as he contributed 18 points on seven-of-nine shooting from the field to go along with six boards and four assists. Toumani Camara  added a double-double as he scored 11 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. Mustapha Amzil contributed with 12 points off the bench and Dayton saw benefits from Malachi Smith as he made his first appearance of the season after dealing with injuries. 

GAME BREAKDOWN 

1st Half: Dayton 30, Robert Morris 21

• The Flyers defense started the game strong, holding Robert Morris scoreless on 0-for-5 shooting in the first three minutes of the game. 

• At the first media timeout, Dayton led the Colonials 7-2 as DaRon Holmes II contributed four points and Kobe Elvis added three. 

• Mustapha Amzil was the first substitution for the Flyers and quickly made an impact as he had a put-back following his offensive rebound. On the next possession, he buried a three and gave them a seven point lead (14-7) with 12:36 left in the half. 

• In his first game back from injury, Malachi Smith, as well as Toumani Camara anchored Dayton's strong defense as they held RMU to another scoring drought of 6:03 from the 14:52 mark until 8:49 remaining in the first half on 0-for-5 shooting. 

• The Flyers went scoreless from the 13:00 minute mark down to the 10:00 minute mark until Smith scored his first bucket of the season on a strong drive to the rim, ending the drought. The following possession, Elvis hit another triple adding to their 10-0 run over the course of five minutes. 

• Holmes ignited the arena with back-to-back scoring possessions. First, a breakaway dunk assisted by Smith then followed by a deep three on the wing which extended the Flyer lead to 15, capping off a 15-2 Dayton scoring run with 7:32 remaining. 

• The Colonials went on a 9-0 run of their own, cutting the lead to six points (24-18) with 2:11 remaining.

• Holmes ended this 9-0 run with a tough finish to the basket all while being fouled on the bucket.

• Amzil kept his strong first half going as he nailed a three and re-extended the lead to nine with 1:22 remaining. 

• The Flyers went into the half with the lead, holding RMU to just 29% shooting on 28 attempts as well as forcing the Colonials into committing eight turnovers. 
   

2nd Half: Dayton 60, Robert Morris 51  

• Robert Morris and the Flyers both went back and forth for the first four minutes of the 2nd half. The score was 34-27 at the 16:00 minute mark. 

• Mike Sharavjamts gave the Flyers a double-digit lead with a wide-open three at the wing. The Flyers extended their lead to 39-29 with 14:32 remaining.

• Going into the 12-minute media timeout the Flyers lead dropped to just six points as they struggled offensively during a 2:02 scoring drought. 

• With 9:44 to play Camara rises up and posterizes RMU defender and converts the and-one to give the Flyer Faithful some energy. 

• The following possession Holmes followed this up with a dunk of his own giving him his 16th point of the game. With this bucket, Holmes achieved his 500th point as a Flyer in just 42 games played. 

• At the 3:59 mark Dayton had an eight point lead (52-44) as their defense continued to pick up the offensive struggles.

• Coming out of the media timeout Holmes continued his hot afternoon, as he hit a fade-away jumper pushing the Flyers back out to a 10-point lead. 

• The Flyers added onto their lead as the clock went under a minute when Smith had a clean finish to the basket, making it 56-46 with 40.4 seconds left.

• With 11.1 seconds left Camara put the Colonials away with a two handed dunk assisted by Smith. The Flyers won 60-51. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Camara led the way on rebounding grabbing 14 total as Dayton out-rebounded RMU 40 to 37. 

• Holmes dropped 18 points and scored his 500th career point as a Flyer in just 42 career games. 

• Camara and Amzil were the only other Flyers to hit double-digits for points scoring 11 and 12 respectively. 

• Dayton's bench added a big contribution offensively adding 15 points while RMU was only able to get two points from its bench. 

• Smith, in his first game back from injury, provided energy on the defensive end and helped force the Colonials into 14 turnovers. 

• Dayton held the lead for the entirety of the game. 

UP NEXT

• The Flyers will head to the Bahamas for a matchup vs the Wisconsin Badgers. This will kickoff the three-day Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis tournament.  The game is set for Wednesday, Nov. 23 at 2:30 p.m. ET.