DAYTON – The University of Dayton men's basketball team came out on top of its season opener against SIUE at home on Monday night. After a close first 20 minutes, the Flyers put in a strong second half performance to come away with their first victory of the season.
The Flyers were led by strong showings from
DaRon Holmes II who was the team's top scorer with 19 points,
Nate Santos who tallied an impressive 14 rebounds, and
Kobe Elvis who provided nine points and five assists en route to the victory.
Santos was not the only new Flyer to impress in his debut. Guards Javon Bennet and
Enoch Cheeks had strong showings while filling in for
Malachi Smith who left the game with an injury in the first half. Additionally,
Isaac Jack went three-for-three from the field, giving him six points in just eight minutes off the bench.
First Half – Dayton 27, SIUE 24
- DaRon Holmes II threw down a dunk off of a Malachi Smith assist to record the first official points of the Flyers' season.
- Kobe Elvis followed it up with a three-pointer, extending the Dayton lead to 5-0.
- The Flyers then had a 4:12 scoring drought, missing five straight field goals at the first media timeout. The score was tied at 5-5.
- Dayton went 1-for-12 in field goals with 10 minutes to go in the half while facing a four-point deficit.
- Holmes ended the Dayton scoring drought by converting an and-one with 9:28 left to cut the deficit down to one.
- The Flyers benefited from a giant swing in momentum after Nate Santos got a steal with 2:07 remaining, which led to a Koby Brea three-pointer on the other end.
- Another Brea triple with 31 seconds left in the half gave Dayton a lead (26-24) it would not give up.
- Dayton ended the half on an 11-0 run while forcing four turnovers to take the lead going into the break.
- At halftime, Holmes led the Flyers in scoring with seven points followed by Santos and Brea with six each. Elvis was the team's frontrunner in assists with three.
Second Half – Dayton 63, SIUE 47
- Enoch Cheeks hit a layup to get the first points of the half for the Flyers.
- Holmes was the first Flyer in double digits after converting another and-one with 18:01 left in the game.
- Dayton's 3:07 scoring drought was complimented by many missed threes. The Flyers were 3-for-18 from the arc at the first media timeout.
- Newcomer Javon Bennett ended this drought with a made three with 14:41 left to play.
- Holmes improved to 8-for-8 in free throws with 12 minutes to go in the half while putting the Flyers ahead by three.
- A second-chance layup by Petras Padegimas gave the Flyers their largest lead of the game to that point, putting them ahead 43-37 with 10:34 to go.
- Isaac Jack scored his first official points in a Dayton uniform when he threw down a dunk with 8:42 remaining.
- Padegimas put UD up by 10 with another layup at the 7:45 mark. Dayton leads would be double digits the rest of the way.
- Cheeks ignited the crowd as he scored a breakaway dunk, extending Dayton's scoring run to 10-0.
- With 3:35 remaining, Elvis hit a three-pointer to extend the Flyer lead to 15, at 58-43. This was followed up by a strong defensive possession from Dayton which culminated in a Holmes block as the shot clock expired.
- Dayton shot .524 (11-21) from the floor in the second half, after shooting .333 (9-27) in the first.
- The Flyers also nearly cut their turnovers in half, with four in the final 20 minutes after seven in the first period.
BY THE NUMBERS
- 14 - Rebounds from Nate Santos in his Flyer debut.
- 19 - Points by DaRon Holmes II.
- 23 - Bench points, which proved decisive in tonight's victory.
- 11- Free throws made by Holmes out of 12 shot attempts.
- 17 - Points off of turnovers for the Flyers, who forced 13 turnovers throughout the night.
- 8 - Players who scored at least five points.
- 6 - Assists by Javon Bennett (with no turnovers)
- 4 - Steals by Enoch Cheeks
- 10 - Fouls drawn by Holmes
- 3 - Blocked shots by Holmes
UP NEXT
- The Flyers will travel to Evanston, Ill. on Friday, November 10 to face Northwestern at 8:30 p.m. ET.
