Dayton comes back, defeats Davidson in overtime
Final Score (OT): Dayton 89, Davidson 82
Following a 83–70 home win over George Mason on Tuesday, Dayton hit the road for a battle with Davidson. Chasing an A-10 regular season title, the Flyers hoped to finish the month of February undefeated. In order the pick up its eight straight win, though, Dayton would have to fight off a tough Wildcat squad. With some of the A-10’s top players featured on both teams, Dayton and Davidson were ready for a Friday night showdown.
Getting off to a hot start on offense, Davidson grabbed an early 19–16 lead just over eight minutes into the action. Continuing to convert threes at an insane rate, the Wildcats stayed up on Dayton. With 7:33 to play in the first half, Davidson held a 31–24 lead.
Due to some uncharacteristic turnovers and sloppy defense, the Flyers put themselves in a further hole. Davidson opened up a 38–31 lead with 3:57 left in the first half. In danger of going down by double digits, Xeyrius Williams and the Flyers decided they had seen enough. Williams drained three triples as Dayton quickly came back to take a four point lead. Despite turning the ball over 11 times in the first half, Dayton led Davidson 46–45 at the break.
Coming out of halftime, Dayton and Davidson continued their hard fought battle. Holding the Flyers scoreless for over six minutes, Davidson went on a huge run to open up a lead. With eight minutes to play, the Wildcats led Dayton 67–56. Unfortunately for the Flyers, things continued to get worse. Jack Gibbs knocked down a couple of free throws to give Davidson its largest lead of the game. Trailing by 13 with 7:43 left, most wrote off any chance of a Dayton comeback.
Refusing to ever quit, though, the True Team continued to fight. Down by 11 with 5:36 to play, John Crosby started to bring the Flyers back in it with an and one. A bucket by Kendall Pollard and three from Kyle Davis cut Davidson’s lead all the way down to two with 3:22 left. Less than a minute later, Kendall Pollard knocked down two free throws to tie the game up at 72–72. After a chaotic final two minutes, Dayton and Davidson went to overtime even at 74 apiece.
Working their way back from so far down, the Flyers would not be denied. Despite not scoring a field goal in the first 40 minutes, Scoochie Smith absolutely took over in OT. Smith splashed three straight triples to help Dayton pull away from the Wildcats once and for all. Somehow, someway, Dayton managed to grab another huge win on the road against Davidson.
Kendall Pollard led the way for Dayton on Friday night. The senior forward put up a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Charles Cooke, Xeyrius Williams, and Scoochie Smith all notched 17 points in the Flyer’s win. Jack Gibbs and Peyton Aldridge did all they could for Davidson. Gibbs and Aldridge both dropped 27 points in the Wildcat’s loss to Dayton.
With the win Dayton improves to 23–5 overall and 14–2 in the A-10. The Flyers can clinch the regular season conference title Wednesday night against VCU. The upcoming Flyer-Ram senior night showdown should should make for one of the LOWDest atmospheres in Dayton history.
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