Game of the Night
Dayton Flyers 85, St. Bonaventure Bonnies 79
Though the score may indicate that this was actually a close game, the Flyers controlled from tip to finish. The Flyers got out to a hot shooting start, hitting 68% of their field goals in the first half. St. Bonaventure, on the other hand, was cold as could be, as they managed a meager 28% from the floor in the first 20 minutes. The Flyers had a commanding 45-18 lead at the break. They’d go on to lead by as many as 31 with just under 15 minutes to go.
But right when it looked as if Dayton would blow the Bonnies out of the water, St. Bonaventure started to slowly chip away at the deficit. The Bonnies would manage to make up 21 points and trail only by 10 with a minute to play. After a couple of turnovers from the Flyers, St. Bonaventure had the deficit down to just 6 with about 10 seconds left to play. Despite a monstrous second half, they’d lose to Dayton 79-85 on their own floor.
Dayton was able to steal a nice road win over the Bonnies thanks mostly to red-hot shooting. The Flyers would finish 28-49 (57.1%) from the floor and 9-15 (60.0%) from downtown. Charles Cooke led all scores with 21 points; Dyshawn Pierre wasn’t far behind with 20 of his own. The two combined to score of 12 of the Flyers’ 28 field goals and pull down 14 of their 34 boards. Darrell Davis and Kendall Pollard also finished in double digits as they scored 12 and 11 respectively. The one concern for this Flyer team on Tuesday night was turnovers. They had 16 giveaways, including 6 in the final 10 minutes. The inability to take care of the ball was a big reason St. Bonaventure was able to cut its deficit to single digits towards the end of the game. Regardless, the Flyers picked up a very solid road win and move to 5-1 in the A10. They’ll go on the road to face Fordham this Sunday.
St. Bonaventure’s two halves looked very different on Tuesday night. In the first 20 minutes, the Bonnies couldn’t get anything to go, shooting just 7-25 (28.0%) from the floor. The final 20 minutes featured 19-38 (50.0%) shooting for the Bonnies and 61 points to quietly creep up on the Flyers at the end of the game. Marcus Posley finished with 31 points and teammate Jayeln Adams had 27 after combining for just 8 points in the first half. They found a way to turn on the jets in the final 15 minutes, but it just wasn’t enough to overcome the whopping deficit they faced. The Bonnies have now lost two straight and stand at 4-2 in conference play. This loss hurts because things aren’t going to get any easier this weekend. St. Bonaventure will travel to face VCU this Saturday. The Rams lead the league and have won 8 straight games.
