Dayton downs Rhode Island in A-10 thriller
Final Score: Dayton 67, Rhode Island 64
Featuring the A-10 preseason #1 vs. #2, plenty of hype surrounded Dayton’s showdown with Rhode Island. With both teams off to 2–0 starts in conference play, the Flyers and Rams looked to keep their win streaks alive Friday night. Unfortunately for Dayton, the Flyers learned prior to the game that Charles Cooke would not be able to play. Cooke has been battling injuries to both his wrist and tailbone and did not practice throughout the week. Rhode Island’s Christion Thompson also did not play as he was battling a knee injury. Despite the absences of Cooke and Thompson, Dayton’s nationally televised (ESPN2) showdown with Rhode Island promised to not disappoint.
Early on Rhode Island dominated the action. The Rams jumped out to a 7–0 lead before a layup by Kendall Pollard finally stopped the bleeding for Dayton. While the Flyer’s offense continued to struggle their defense kept them in it. A shot clock violation on Rhode Island sent UD Arena into its first frenzy of the night with Dayton down 19–14. With 3:46 to go in the first half Dayton cut the deficit to four as the Flyer faithful started to really get after the questionable officiating. Dayton had a chance to take the lead going into halftime, but Scoochie Smith’s three at the buzzer came up short. At the break Rhode island led the Flyers 27–25.
If Dayton wanted to come out on top and keep its winning streak alive, the Flyers knew they needed a strong second half effort. Coming out of the break, the True Team definitely looked like the aggressor. A three by Kyle Davis gave Dayton its first lead of the game just minutes into the second half. Every time the Flyers seemed to gain momentum, however, Rhode Island responded with a three. Nevertheless, Dayton continued to fight. With just under eight minutes remaining, Kendall Pollard threw down a breakaway flush to give the Flyers the lead. Then, Kyle Davis laid a basket in to put Dayton up 52–49 with 6:34 left. The final few minutes were shaping up to be absolutely thrilling.
Twice in the final six minutes, Ryan Mikesell hit shots to extend Dayton’s lead to five. Just when it looked like the Flyers nearly had the game in the bag, though, Rhode Island’s star player, E.C. Matthews, pulled the Rams back in it. Matthews’ three with 1:06 left cut Dayton’s lead to 63–62. A Kendall Pollard layup followed by Kuran Iverson jumper, kept the difference deadlocked at one with 18 seconds to play. With Rhode Island forced to foul, Kyle Davis went to the line for Dayton. Davis only knocked down one of two free throws, but it would not matter. Dayton came up with a huge defensive stop on the final Ram possession to secure the victory. The Flyers defeated Rhode Island by a final score of 67–64 as the True Team picked up a huge conference win.
With 21 points in 38 minutes of action, Scoochie Smith led the way for Dayton against the Rams. Kendall Pollard, the birthday boy, put up an impressive 18 points of his own. Kyle Davis was the only other Flyer to score in double figures with 10; and Ryan Mikesell led the way in rebound with seven. Friday night’s victory over Rhode Island truly exemplified the gutsy, togetherness of this Dayton team.
After the game Scoochie Smith said the Flyers are able to keep pulling wins like this off because, “Toughness travels, like coach tells us all the time. Just playing for one another, playing together.” Wins like this continue to show how Dayton lives up to its True Team motto.
Following the huge win Archie Miller called Dayton’s showdown with Rhode Island, “Just a fantastic college basketball game. Great for our league.” A lot of hype surrounded this match-up going in and it certainly did not disappoint.
As for Dayton’s performance, Miller seemed happy with the way the Flyers fought. Miller said “For our guys it was a heck of a statement just in terms of togetherness and toughness… we’ve got some guys playing really, really hard right now. Very unselfish team and playing for the right reason: which is to win the game.” While it was not always pretty at times, Dayton will be very pleased with its win over Rhode Island. The Flyers fought incredibly hard without Charles Cooke and, once again, found a way to come out on top as a True Team.
Dayton improves to 12–3 overall and 3–0 in the Atlantic 10 with Friday night’s victory over Rhode Island. This win helps both the Flyer’s RPI and their resume come March. The True Team will be back in action Wednesday night as Dayton goes on the road to face UMass. Hopefully the Flyers can get a healthy Cooke back before next week’s tussle with the Minutemen.
