SATURDAY’S GAME
VCU at Dayton, 8 p.m., CBS Sports Network, AM 1290, News 95.7 WHIO
Never count out the Dayton Flyers when the calendar turns to March.
Twelve days before Selection Sunday, the Flyers added another line to their NCAA tournament resume just when it appeared they might be sweating it out on the bubble, rallying from 11 points down in the second half to beat Richmond 85-84 on Tuesday at the Robins Center. The Flyers ended a six-game losing streak at Richmond, where they hadn’t won since 2004.
Dayton junior point guard Scoochie Smith scored a career-high 26 points and sealed the game at the free-throw line, making eight in a row in the final 90 seconds before missing his final two. Richmond’s T.J. Cline, who scored 36 points, hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to draw the Spiders within one.
“It’s good for us,” Smith said. “It gives some life back to the locker room. We’re fighting through adversity. Even in this game, we had to keep fighting through.”
The Flyers, who had lost three of their last four and never led in a 75-66 loss at home to Rhode Island on Saturday, improved to 23-6 and 13-4 in the Atlantic 10. If St. Joseph’s loses one of its last two games and Dayton beats Virginia Commonwealth at home on Saturday, the Flyers would share the regular-season title.
“We’ve had a hard time the last couple weeks,” Dayton coach Archie Miller said. “We’ve lost some confidence. Obviously, we’ve been down men the last couple games, but this was a toughness win on all levels. In talking to our players over the weekend, one of the things that was going to be very evident, is this win would not be possible unless your upperclassmen came to play.”
Senior forward Dyshawn Pierre, who scored 15, said there was a players-only meeting Saturday on top of a postgame meeting with the coaches.
“We knew we’re a good team and we’re just trying to block the outside noise,” Pierre said. “People were wondering what’s going on with our team. There’s nothing going on. Teams go through slumps sometimes. We’ve just got to rally and get it back together.”
The Flyers did get off to a better start in this game. After trailing 11-0 in their last game, they led 8-2 in this one. But Cline led the Spiders (15-14, 7-10) to a 37-32 halftime lead. In the second half, the Flyers tied it at 43-43 only to see Richmond go on a 15-4 run to a 58-47 lead at the 11:39 mark.
Things looked bleak for Dayton, but Smith scored 10 points in the next four minutes. Then Charles Cooke took over, scoring seven points. His 3-pointer at the 4:03 mark was the shot of the game. It gave the Flyers a 69-64 lead and capped a 22-6 run. Cooke scored 21.
“Scoochie Smith played the game of his career,” Miller said. “He played with great confidence. He gave Charles confidence. And Dyshawn just kind of slugged it out all game long.”
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