After Falling in the A-10 Championship game less than a week ago, Dayton has picked up two big ones, first dispatching a Boise State team in a First 4 NCAA tournament game at UD Arena, followed by a big win over the Big East’s Providence Friars.
Archie Miller’s squad locked down on the Friars throughout last night’s contest but struggled to score themselves early on. The lids came off the basket somewhat early in the second, as four of Dayton’s first six field goals of the second half came from beyond the arc, giving the Flyers a nine-point cushion with just over 10 minutes to play.
A four-minute cold streak allowed Providence to claw within three until Dayton’s Jordan Sibert and Dyshawn Pierre strung together two quick deep balls to give UD an eight-point lead that they would expand on at the free throw line to earn the 66-53 victory in their fifth game in an eight-day span.
Pierre led all players with a game-high 20 points and added eight rebounds for the Flyers. Pierre shot 60% from the field on a night Dayton struggled to connect for much of the game.
Sibert chipped in 15 point for the Flyers while Scoochie Smith added 11 to round out the list of double-digit scorers for UD.
Dayton’s Kyle Davis however takes home the all-hustle award, playing bigger than his 6′ 165-pound frame by grabbing a team-high nine rebounds to go with a game-high five steals.
The Flyers will advance to the round of 32 for the second straight season, taking on Oklahoma in Columbus, Ohio Sunday at 6:10PM EST.
DAVIDSON FALLS
It was an incredible season for Davidson’s Bob McKillop and company, earning the schools first-ever at large bid after winning an Atlantic 10 regular season title in just their first year in the conference. But last night the magic ran out as Dayton fell to Iowa, 83-52, the worst loss in Bob McKillop’s 26 years with the Wildcats.
Davidson struggled to hit shots all night, something they simply could not afford to do against a much larger Iowa team that was able to dominate the glass to the tune of a 46-30 rebound advantage.
The usually hot Wildcats connected on just 33.3% of their field goals including a 6-28 mark from deep, 17.3% below their season three-point average.
Defensively the Cats couldn’t stop an Iowa team that had the hot hand themselves. The Hawkeyes hit 50.7% of their attempts including a game-high 26 points on 11-14 shooting from star forward Aaron White.
Jack Gibbs and Payton Aldridge tallied 28 points for the Wildcats but shot a combined 11-27 from the field while A-1o Player of the Year, Tyler Kalinoski, was held to a season-low five points on 2-9 shooting in the loss. He’s the only player the Cats lose heading into next season so expect the Cats to be wild once again during the 2015-16 season.
