CHICAGO – The University of Dayton men's basketball team fell in Atlantic 10 action on Friday night, coming up short at Loyola Chicago 76-72 at Gentile Arena.
 
The Flyers trailed by as many as 13 in the second half but fought back to cut the Ramblers' lead to two with just 3:12 to play. Unfortunately Loyola sank a three on the next possession and UD could never quite pull back to even.

Senior Nate Santos led four Flyers in double-figures, scoring 18 points on the night. Fellow senior Enoch Cheeks scored 16 points, junior Javon Bennett had 11 and freshman Amaël L'Etang added 10.

GAME RECAP
First Half – Loyola 34, Dayton 31
•    Dayton scored the first four points of the game, but Loyola quickly tied it up just over three minutes into the game.
•    The score was knotted 8-8 at the first media timeout with 14:52 left in the half.
•    A pair of Posh Alexander free throws made the score Loyola 13, Dayton 10 at the next break at the 11:27 mark.
•    A 9-0 Flyer spurt punctuated by an Amaël L'Etang dunk forced a Rambler timeout with 7:48 left and UD on top 19-15.
•    Coming out of the final break of the first half, an Enoch Cheeks step-back jumper made the score Loyola 29, Dayton 28 with 2:24 left.
•    A three-pointer by 'Etang with 26 seconds remaining made it a three-point game at the half.
Second Half – Loyola 76, Dayton 72
•    Javon Bennett's bucket stopped a 9-0 Rambler run and made the score 45-38 at the first timeout nearly five minutes into the second half.
•    Malachi Smith's tip-in made it Loyola 52, Dayton 43 at the 11:45 mark.
•    Loyola scored the next four points in less than a minutes to take its largest lead of the night (56-43) with 10:54 left.
•    Jaiun Simon nailed a three and Nate Santos scored twice to cut the Loyola lead to six.
•    Five more points from Santos made it a four-point game (61-57) with 5:54 to go.
•    A pair of Santos free throws cut the margin to two with 4:31 left.
•    The two teams traded two-point possessions the next four times down the floor.
•    Loyola's Sheldon Edwards, Jr. drained a three at the 2:29 mark to break the string and give Loyola a 68-63 lead.
•    Dayton was able to make it a one possession game three more times, but Loyola had an answer each time.

BY THE NUMBERS
•    16 – Nate Santos scored 16 of his team-high 18 points in the second half
•    5 – Dayton out-rebounded Loyola 34-33, with five Flyers grabbing at least five rebounds
•    7 – Enoch Cheeks led UD on the boards with seven
•    5 – Malachi Smith led the Flyers with five assists
•    3- Amaël L'Etang led the team with a career-best three steals
•    4- Smith, L'Etang and Javon Bennett shared team honors in +/- with +4
•    18 – Jaiun Simon saw a career-high 18 minutee of action, with 12 coming in the second half.

UP NEXT
•    Dayton plays at Rhode Island on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. ET.
•    UD is back home against Richmond for Senior Day on Saturday, March 1.
•    Game time for Richmond is at 2 p.m. ET.