Men's Basketball Falls in Exhibition Game To Xavier 98-74

Nate Santos Led The Flyers With 13 Points

DAYTON – The University of Dayton men's basketball team fell to Xavier 74-98 at UD Arena in a charity exhibition game Sunday evening.

The game was part of The Spotlight, a multi-day event to raise awareness for young adult mental health and to benefit a number of charities that work to break the stigma and provide helpful resources. Additionally, the Spotlight included a town hall meeting at UD Arena on October 9th.

During the game, three donations were presented to mental health foundations. CareSource generously gave $50k to Jay's Light during the game's first media timeout. That was followed by the Jay's Light Foundation giving a $5,000 grant to the G.E.M. Project. In the second half, the Dayton Flyers presented the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation with a check for $50k in support of mental health awareness.

GAME RECAP
First Half – Dayton 28 , Xavier 46

On the opening drive, grad student Zed Key secured his first bucket as a Flyer with a nice left-handed jump hook in the paint to get the Flyers going 2-0.
Redshirt junior Malachi Smith got his first points since returning from injury on a stick-back.
Senior Nate Santos gets his first basket of the season off a nice assist from Smith at 16:27 mark.
Santos scored again with a nice back-cut to secure a layup off a sharp bounce pass from senior Enoch Cheeks to cut the lead 11-9 Xavier.
Newcomer Amaël L'Etang got his first collegiate bucket off a nice put back slam dunk to tie the game at 11 at 13:33 mark.
Javon Bennett started the game and drove for a layup bringing the Flyers to only a single-point deficit at the 13:13 mark.
After forcing a Xavier turnover, newcomer Hamad Mousa got himself going with his first collegiate basket with a fast break dunk off the assist from Bennett to cut Xavier lead 16-15 at the 11:51 mark.
Off the out-of-bounds play, redshirt freshman Jaiun Simon found a way open to secure a fresh reverse layup off the assist from redshirt senior Posh Alexander to draw Flyers closer to 18-17 in favor of Xavier at 10:17 mark
Smith kept the Flyers close with a nice drive to the basket with a smooth layup in the paint to keep Flyers deficit to 23-19 at 7:19 mark
After Xavier responded with a bucket, Santos responded with a three-point dagger off the assist from Cheeks to cut Xavier lead 25-22 at 6:52 mark
L'Etang secured another bucket with his second dunk of the game with the assist from new Flyer and Dayton native Jacob Conner to draw Xavier's lead to 31-24 at 4:30 mark
After a four-minute scoring drought by the Flyers, Mousa secured a dunk off an assist from junior Isaac Jack at 0:26 mark

Second Half – Dayton 74 , Xavier 98

Cheeks got the Flyers second half off with a dagger off a nice assist from Bennett.
After a Musketeers three, Bennett responded with a three of his own from the corner at 18:08 mark.
Key got his second half going with a nice putback off a missed three as well as securing one free throw.
It was Key again adding to his strong start to the half with a dunk off the assist from Santos at 16:29 mark.
Off a block by Cheeks, Bennett started a fast break and secured a smooth mid-range jumper at 15:44 mark
L'Etang continued his impressive debut for the Flyers by knocking down a dagger from the corner with the assist from Alexander to keep the Flyers run going to cut Xavier lead 61-44 at 15:13 mark.
It was L'Etang again with a dunk off the pick and roll assist from Smith at the 13:36 mark.
Mousa continued his strong debut with a fast break corner dagger at the 11:42 mark.
After Cheeks knocks down two from the stripe, he gets a steal and secures a bucket to cut Xavier lead 72-58 at the 10:29 mark.
Santos got himself a three at the 8:07 mark
Smith got himself going by knocking down two from strike along with a nice floater inside the paint at 3:46 mark.
Jack got himself his first bucket with a thunderous slam dunk at 01:27 mark off the assist from Simon.

BY THE NUMBERS

13 - Nate Santos led the Flyers in scoring with 13 points
14:11 - The Flyer defense caused Xavier to turn the ball over 14 times compared to their 11 turnovers
9 - Newcomers Zed Key and Amaël L'Etang each had nine points in their Flyers debut
46:21 - The Musketeers outshot the Flyers at 46% from beyond the arc compared to the Flyers 21%
4:1 - The Flyers were able to secure four blocked shots compared to the Musketeers only blocking one
13,407 - The exhibition game was sold out, with proceeds benefiting the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation, the National Alliance on Mental Illness and Jay's Light.