Archdeacon: In loss to UC, the Flyers were not ‘bad to the bone’

And, at times, it was about being bone-headed.

UD lost to the Cincinnati Bearcats, 74-62, Tuesday night at Fifth Third Arena on the UC campus. And while there were times the Flyers channeled George Thorogood and were “bad to the bone,” there were other times they were just plain bad.

Let’s start with the latter.

Dayton went 1-for-13 from three-point range in the first half and in the second half they were an abysmal 1-for-13 again from long range.

That’s 2-for-26 overall, which is 7.7 percent.

The kid UC promotions pulled out of the stands for a second half, time-out contest shot better than that.

The times the Flyers desperately needed a 3 to keep a run going, they missed.

The times they shouldn’t have launched a trey — when a drive to the basket was the smarter option — they bombed away anyway. And almost always they missed, sometimes embarrassingly so.

Point guard Javon Bennett — who made 39 percent of his long-range attempts last season and came into the game having made 161 treys in his career — went 1-for-10 from long range.

Amaël L’Etang, the Flyers 7-foot-1 sophomore, was shooting 40 percent from afar — best on the starting five this season — and went 1-for-6 against the Bearcats.

Senior guard Jordan Derkack, a 44.6 percent career shooter from 3-point range, went 0-for-3. Jacob Conner, De’Shayne Montgomery and Jaiun Simon each went 0-for-2.

Credit: David Jablonski

Credit: David Jablonski

As Montgomery put it afterward: “We were just shooting and didn’t see it go in. But we kept shooting instead of being aggressive and making the ref call a foul.”

Flyers head coach Anthony Grant agreed: “We needed to be more disciplined offensively. We’ve got to play to our strengths better than what we showed.”

On defense, which early in this now 2-1 season has been a calling card of this team, the Flyers had some glaring flaws, as well.

Four times UD fouled Bearcats players who were taking a 3-point shot.

Late in the first half, Conner fouled UC’s Shon Abaev who made the 3, but then missed the free toss. Near the end of the game, Abaev was fouled again at long range, this time by Bennett, and he made two of three free throws.

Twice in the second half, UC’s Day Day Thomas, who finished with a game-leading 20 points, made all three free throws when fouled by L’Etang and then Keonte Jones.

“You definitely can count a litany of breakdowns we had in terms of fouling a 3-point shooter,” Grant said as he stood in a hallway outside the Flyers dressing quarters.

The biggest defensive lapses came in the transition game, Grant noted:

“You could argue that was the difference in the game. It was their ability — whether it was on missed shots, turnovers or made baskets — to get out and attack in transition for layups, dunks and three-point shots."

Miscues like those led to the Flyers trailing by 16 points, 27-16, with 8:56 left in the first half and by double digits midway through the second half. And each time UD showed some backbone and came clawing its way back.

Grant noted how the team cut the Bearcats lead to a two-possession difference in the first half and then just a one-possession cushion, 48-46, in the second half after two fast break scores by Montgomery — one of a driving lay-up and the other a one-hand dunk — and a free throw.

But as soon as Montgomery slammed the ball home to cut the UC lead to two, he crumpled to the court with a cramp.

He was removed from the lineup and UC promptly went on a 12-2 run that gave it enough cushion to keep the Flyers at bay the rest of the way.

‘We’re not gonna back down’

Just as defensive lapses hurt the Flyers, their ability to create havoc with their full-court press helped them short-circuit the Bearcats, who committed 24 turnovers.

“That’s what our team can do,” Derkack said. “The No. 1 thing, if you ask anybody — our advantage, our strength — is our competitiveness. We’re not gonna back down from nobody.”

Grant echoed that thought: “Our guys did a really good job of fighting and competing.”

UC was bigger, stronger, faster and deeper than the Flyers and early on — with the home crowd rocking the arena, the history of the Bearcats dominance over the Flyers in modern times; and the obvious physical difference — UC tried to bully its rivals from up the road.

That was never more evident than late in the first half when UC’s 6-foot-11 Baba Miller turned a basketball play into big-time wrestling beneath the Dayton basket and had Derkack in the equivalent of a wrestler’s sleeper hold as he tried to tug the ball away from the Flyers 6-foot-5 senior guard.

Miller may be new to the Bearcats, but he’s a college basketball veteran. Two years ago he started 32 of 33 games for Florida State and last season he started all 34 games at Florida Atlantic.

The tussle ended when the players were pulled apart and Derkack — who’s on his third school as well after stops at Merrimack and Rutgers — had to be held back briefly by his teammates to keep from confronting the bigger Cat.

After a review by officials, Miller was assessed a common foul and a technical. The Flyers got four free throws — which they made — and the ball out of bounds.

The momentum surge ended when Jaiun Simon launched a three…that missed.

Bon voyage

Afterward Grant said the Flyers will take home some real lessons from this road test.

One thing that is becoming obvious just three games into the season is that the Flyers are better when Montgomery and Keonte Jones are on the court.

Montgomery said he wasn’t rattled by the atmosphere:

“I didn’t get fazed by it. I heard them a little bit all night calling my number and talking trash, but I just focused on my team and trying to win the game.”

He came to UD this year after playing a season at Mount St. Mary’s and then last year at Georgia.

After facing SEC crowds on the road, he said this was nothing new to him. He said the crowds at Florida and Auburn were tougher: “They’re loud the whole game. They don’t stop.”

The Flyers ended up with three players in double figures: L’Etang had 14 points and eight rebounds; Montgomery had 13; and Bennett added 12.

Derkack — who is coming back from a foot injury last season and then a bad fall in preseason practice that damaged his shoulder — isn’t 100 percent, but he still played 25½ minutes. He finished with nine points, four assists and three steals.

He said he’d be using some ice bags on the bus ride back up I-75.

Speaking of UD’s trip home, the Cincinnati crowd gave the Flyers one more bone moment as the game wound down.

With 3:10 left — as Abaev sank a free throw to put UC up 68-53 — the crowd began to serenade the Flyers with the traditional so-long song.

Fifth Third Arena filled with “Na, Na, Hey, Hey ... Good Bye!”

Put another way, the beaten Flyers were getting a Bearcats’ bon voyage.