From the Dayton Flyers bench, someone shouted, “Oh my God, Nate!”
The high-arcing shot swished through the net at TD Arena with 4.1 seconds to play Thursday. Bennett jumped with both arms in the air. Hundreds of UD fans had the same reaction in the stands. LSU called timeout, giving DaRon Holmes II the chance to grab Santos in a bear hug at center court.
Minutes later, after LSU missed a desperation 3-pointer, Dayton celebrated a 70-67 victory in the first round of the Charleston Classic.
“It’s big,” said Santos, who led Dayton with 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting. “It’s definitely some momentum for us. It’s something we wanted, and I’m glad we got it.”
The Flyers (2-1) will face St. John’s (2-1) in the semifinals of the eight-team event at 2 p.m. Friday (ESPN2). St. John’s beat North Texas 53-52 in the first game of the day Thursday.
This is the most important non-conference victory for the Flyers since they upset Kansas in the semifinals of ESPN Events Invitational two years ago. That game ended with an even more improbable shot by Mustapha Amzil, but this was an even more unlikely victory because Dayton overcame a 60-45 deficit in the final nine minutes.
Dayton got back in the game with a 19-2 run that stretched from the 8:55 mark to the 3:42 mark. LSU answered with five straight points to take a 67-64 lead into the final minute.
Then Koby Brea, who made 3 of 7 3-pointers and scored 13 points, made a game-tying 3-pointer with 47 seconds to play.
“We were just trying to come back little by little,” Brea said. “The play happened to be called for me. It’s something I work on. I hit the shot, and then Nate hit the biggest shot of the night.”
Santos said his defender fell asleep on the play, while Bennett was thinking he would go for a layup until he saw a defender leave Santos.
“That was big time,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said. “Nate is a hard worker. He puts the time. It’s great to see the hard work pay off.”
FRIDAY’S GAME
Dayton vs. St. John’s, 2 p.m., ESPN2, 1290, 95.7
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