CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The University of Dayton men's basketball team came up short in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament, falling 87-72 at the hands of Chattanooga on Saturday afternoon at McKenzie Arena.
 
Senior Nate Santos led four Flyers in double-figures with 18 points, fellow senior Enoch Cheeks and junior Javon Bennett both had 15, and redshirt junior Malachi Smith added 13. Smith had seven assists and two steals, while Santos pulled down a team-high six rebounds.

GAME RECAP
First Half – Chattanooga 42, Dayton 34
•    Nate Santos buried a three for Dayton's first basket of the game, cutting into Chattanooga's early advantage, 5-3.
•    Malachi Smith knocked down a triple of his own to make it a one-point game, 7-6.
•    Enoch Cheeks hit a step-back three to end a 5-0 run by the Mocs and make it a 12-9 game.
•    Santos converted on an old-fashioned three-point play to bring UD back within three at 15-12.
•    A dunk by Isaac Jack and floater from Javon Bennett kept the Flyers within three, 19-16.
•    Bennett connected on a pull-up to stop a Chattanooga run and make the score 26-19.
•    Smith hit his second three-pointer of the half to make it a 29-22 game.
•    Cheeks made it a four-point deficit for Dayton with another pull-up three, 29-25.
•    The offense went quiet for the Flyers for nearly four minutes, with a basket from Cheeks snapping the scoreless stretch and bring the Flyers back to 36-27.
•    Cheeks connected on a triple for five straight UD points, making the score 38-30.
•    Smith diced his way through the defense to get to the charity stripe and connected on both to get Dayton back to an eight-point deficit
•    Santos made a hook shot in the paint to bring the score to 42-34.
Second Half – Chattanooga 87, Dayton 72
•    An alley-oop from Bennett to Zed Key got the Flyers on the board in the first half, 44-36.
•    Santos got fouled on a three-point attempt and connected on all three attempts, 46-39.
•    Smith brought it back to a seven-point game with a layup after a turnover, 48-41.
•    Cheeks connected on a 360 layup 
•    A tip-back by Amaël L'Etang made the score 60-48.
•    Bennett drilled a triple to keep the Flyers down a dozen, 63-51.
•    Santos knocked down a three to bring the score back to eight, 65-57
•    The Flyers kept it within striking distance thanks to a 4-0 run, as Bennett made a layup and Cheeks slammed an alley-oop to bring UD to 71-64
•    Santos made it a six-point game with a triple to make the score 73-67 with 3:21 to go.
•    The Flyers were able to get a turnover and had the shot that would have made it a one-score game, but it did not go down and the Mocs used an 8-0 run to regain control.

BY THE NUMBERS
•    4 – Four Flyers recorded double-digit scoring performances – Nate Santos (18), Javon Bennett and Enoch Cheeks (apiece), and Malachi Smith (13)
•    7 - Smith had seven assists in the game
•    6 – Santos led with six rebounds
•    .571 – Chattanooga's .571 shooting percentage (28-49) was the highest against UD this season by 50 percentage points.  

 Dayton finishes the year 23-11 overall.  UD was third in the Atlantic 10 with a 12-6 conference record.