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>>> WATCH: Dayton vs. Winthrop highlights
Senior guard Charles Cooke scored 20 points in an 83-67 victory over Winthrop. He has scored 19 or more points in five of Dayton’s seven games. His season average stands at 19.7 points per game. That’s 4.1 points better than last season.
“He’s just being very aggressive in general,” Dayton coach Archie Miller said. “He’s not settling for 3s. He’s been very aggressive with the ball, which we need him to be. He’s, in my opinion, a player of the year candidate in our league, and he’s got to be that guy for us. We’ve got to get him comfortable in terms of the rhythm of the shots when he gets them.”
Underrated performance: Senior guard Kyle Davis scored 11 points, hitting double figures for the third straight game. He added six rebounds, five assists and three steals in 28 minutes.
Davis averaged 3.5 points per game in the first four games and has averaged 11 points per game in the last four.
“Kyle, for the third game in a row, continues to be the tone-setter for our team,” Miller said.
Offensive success: Dayton shot 4 of 14 from 3-point range (28.6 percent) but 28 of 48 on 2-point shots (58.3 percent). It outscored Winthrop 54-28 in the paint and 14-0 on fast-break points. The Flyers shot 60.7 percent from 2-point range in the second half.
“(Winthrop) stayed home on shooters,” Miller said. “They got back on transition and really wanted to stay close to guys on the perimeter. Using the amount of ball screens we used and also playing the space we had, I thought our guys did a good job of playing downhill, getting to the rim. Charles has been playing like that. Scoochie (Smith) was at the basket a ton.”
Week ahead: Dayton plays Saint Joseph's College (Ind.), at 7 p.m. Tuesday at UD Arena. It's Dayton's first regular-season game against a Division II school since Jan. 2, 1993, when it beat Missouri-Saint Louis 66-63.
The Pumas (4-4) lost their third straight game Saturday, 98-75 to Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha, Wisc.
Next Saturday at 2 p.m., Dayton hosts East Tennessee State (6-1). The Buccaneers beat Division II Lees-McRae College 85-80 on Thursday for their fourth straight win and host Division II Limestone College on Sunday.
Around the A-10: The Atlantic 10 Conference went 5-6 in the early games Saturday and failed to gain some major victories that would have helped in the RPI.
Virginia Commonwealth (6-2) lost 64-46 to Illinois, which lost 84-80 to Winthrop on Nov. 21. No. 21 Rhode Island suffered its third loss in the last four games, falling 63-60 to Providence.
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