That last one comes from Jordan Derkack, Bennett’s Dayton Flyers’ teammate and before that, they both played together at Merrimack College.
He knows the Flyers’ under-sized senior point guard well and has seen what happens when someone tries to psyche him out, distract him, ridicule him or worst of all, try to intimidate him.
St. Bonaventure — and specifically the Bonnies’ high-scoring junior guard Darryl Simmons II — broke that last rule Friday afternoon and paid dearly for it.
In their quarterfinal matchup with the Flyers in the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament at PPG Paints Arena, Simmons chattered to Bennett all game long, then got physical with him.
But trying to badger and bully and bump Bennett rarely works.
It certainly did not Friday.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
The Flyers 5-foot-10 guard — and that’s one of those jacked-up measurements for the game program — scored a season-high 27 points to lift UD to a 68-63 victory over St. Bonaventure and set up the Flyers semifinal match-up with Saint Louis.
Friday’s victory broke UD’s three-game losing streak in the A-10 Tournament. After falling in the championship game to VCU in 2023, Dayton lost its A-10 openers the past two years after getting byes into the quarterfinals.
As the rest of his teammates struggled in the early part of Friday’s game — missing layups, making bad passes and, on a few occasions, failing to get a decent shot off before the shot clock expired — Bennett kept the team in the game with his long-range shooting and heady play.
Along the way he added some pizzaz — a backwards flipped pass to Amaël L’Etang who promptly sank a three-point shot; a drive to the hoop that included a complete 360 degree spin move around surprised Bonnie defender Dasonte Bowen — and then he got physical himself.
When he had had enough of Simmons’ physical approach, he gave him a hard push off that sent the Bonnie flying onto the court
Later Simmons admitted he flopped in hopes he could sell the exchange as more than it was. Instead, he was whistled for the foul.
“Von’s been dealing with some of this stuff since he was a baby,” Derkack said afterward. “You’ve got to understand, he’s….aaah…I’m not even gonna start … He’s 5-8 and a buck sixty five (165,) a buck seventy five (175) and that’s soaking wet.
“You think he’s not been chirped at his whole life?
“He has been laughed at. He’s heard: ‘The guy’s too small.’
“He deals with it the one way he knows how to deal with it. He gets baskets and wins games.
“He’s not new to this and that’s why it’s a bad a bad idea to try to get into his head.”
Bennett agreed:
“Derk is right. He knows I use it for motivation.”
‘The heart and soul of Dayton’
Derkack came into Merrimack College with Bennett as freshmen and he admits he too had the wrong first impression of the little guard from Orlando:
“I remember on one of our first days, our coach was like, ‘We got this good freshman coming on.’ So, I looked on his Instagram page and was like, ‘This guy?’
“And when he came on a visit, I looked at him and thought, ‘This guy is too small.’
“But when we started to play, he killed everybody.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
That’s mostly the way it played out Friday, although for a while Simmons matched Bennett’s efforts.
After transferring to St. Bonaventure this season after playing two years at Gardner Webb where he won all-league honors, Simmons teamed up with Bowen and Cayden Charles to give the Bonnies the most potent scoring guard combinations in the A-10.
Simmons and Bennett both average 16.3 points per game, tied for third-best in the A-10 this season. When the two teams played in Dayton in early February — with the Flyers eking out a 72-70 victory — Bennett had 20 points and Simmons had 17.
Since then, Bennett won first team All-Atlantic 10 honors.
“We had some chirping when we played in Dayton too, but in the end it’s just about competing,” Bennett said. “After the game today everything was cool and we dapped.
“We respect each other.”
That was more than evident when Simmons — who was St Bonaventure’s leading scorer with 20 points and had made two of his four three-point attempts — stopped to talk about Bennett before getting on the Bonnies team bus after the game:
“Our scout was really about stopping Bennett because he’s a phenomenal player.
“He makes shots all different ways. He can score off the dribble or he can catch and shoot. Plus, he does all the little things too that make his teammates better.
“He’s the heart and soul of Dayton and I give him his props for sure.”
‘He carries his team’
After a freshman season at Merrimack — where he was named the Northeast Conference Rookie of the Year and led the nation in steals with 99 — Bennett transferred to Dayton to be on a bigger basketball stage.
Initially he was going to be a back up to returning point guard Malachi Smith. But Smith suffered a season-ending injury seven minutes into the season opener.
“When I was growing up my dad always said to be ready because you never know when your number is going to be called,” Bennett said.
“And when I did get the opportunity, I tried to make the most of it.”
He certainly has. He’s started 92 of 95 games since.
His first season at UD he played in both of the Flyers’ NCAA Tournament games: the thrilling comeback from 17 down to beat Nevada and the 10-point loss to No. 9 Arizona.
He and DeShayne Montgomery — who was at Georgia for two seasons before coming to UD — are the only two current Flyers who have played meaningful minutes in the NCAA Tournament.
Bennett thought some of his teammates were off their games early Friday because of the bright lights and oversized expectations that can come from postseason play.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
“Coach saw it and I saw it and we told them: ‘It’s the same game. It’s the same 94-foot court and the same 10-foot rim and guys settled in in the second half.”
Bennett’s 27 points — on 6 for 10 shooting from three-point range and his 6 for 7 effort at the free throw line — were just three points off his career-high 30 versus Florida Atlantic in the NIT last year.
Friday, Derkack added 15 points thanks to 12 for 14 shooting from the free throw line. L’Etang finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
As the Flyers moved on, St. Bonaventure headed home.
Before he disappeared onto the bus, Simmons showed he had learned something this day:
“Dayton will go as far as Javon Bennett goes. He carries his team.
“Like I said, he’s a phenomenal player.”
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