Granted, this time there were 83 seconds left, not 1.3, and UD was up on Xavier by 12 points, not trailing Temple by one. But once again there he stood under the expectant gaze of some 13,000 people and everybody, including Dillard, couldn’t help flashing on what had happened a week earlier.
Against Temple, Benson had a chance to wash away the late-game sins of his teammates who had blown a 10 point lead with 4:31 left, but he clanked the first free throw off the back flange of the rim and the second toss pin-wheeled around the hoop and finally spun out as he melted into a defeated crouch.
The senior big man beat himself up in private over the failure, Dillard said.
And Benson, who had been shielded from the press all week by UD officials, admitted as much Saturday:
“As a little kid, those are the moments you live for. When you’re in the backyard and you count down “10…9…8…7” you always make the shot. You see yourself as the hero. So when it doesn’t happen like that, it’s tough.”
While UD kept the 6-foot-9 forward’s profile low, he was pilloried on Internet message boards and radio call-in shows. Someone even posted each of the missed free throws in excruciating slow motion on YouTube.
Even early Saturday against Xavier, a couple of fans chided him from the crowd about a play.
And then late in the game, there he was back on the line and the center of attention, and that’s when Dillard did his part to change the script. A week ago he said he let Benson stand there alone to concentrate. This time he approached him with a vocal challenge.
“I told him, ‘I need them. I gotta have ‘em.’ But he didn’t say nothin’ at first, so I didn’t know what his reaction was gonna be,” Dillard said. “Then he made that first one and he turned around looking for me. He was smiling and he says, ‘I got choo…I got choo….I’m gonna take care of these.’”
And with that, Benson did an about face, toed the line, went through his routine with the ball — two dribbles, a spin of the ball in his hands and then shoot — and this time his second toss snapped the net, as well.
Although he came off the bench again Saturday, Benson finished with 16 points on 6-for-8 shooting from the floor and Dayton won, 70-59.
If the Flyers ever needed a victory it was Saturday. They had lost four of their last five, were 3-7 in conference play and in real danger of not even qualifying for the Atlantic 10 tournament that only takes the top 12 finishers. Coming into the Xavier game, UD was 13th in the league.
There were several reasons for the Flyers’ resent swoon but Benson had been turned into the poster child for the season’s lost promise.
That began with the Flyers’ game at Xavier at the end of last month. UD had been bullied inside, a fact that showed up in several players’ stat lines, especially that of Benson, who had three points and one rebound in 24 minutes.
He lost his starting position after that game. Then came the free-throw failures against Temple and last Wednesday, in a last-seconds loss to Rhode Island, he fouled out again after just 16 minutes on the floor.
“Every basketball player goes through slumps and all you can do is get back in the gym, work a little extra and try to keep a positive mindset,” Benson said. “I talked to my parents every day. I’d get text messages from my mom and dad and my girlfriend. They kept me grounded. And at the same time I had my teammates there, especially KD (Dillard).
“He’s like my big brother and I feed off his energy, same as the whole team does.”
After the loss to lowly Rhode Island, Dillard said the players held a team meeting where they each tried to be completely honest with each other and then come up with a plan to right the suddenly sinking ship.
“From now on everybody had to do something extra, something positive, whether it meant diving on the floor for balls, taking charges, rebounding, clapping, making points, making passes,” he said. “Everybody had to do something,”
Benson and freshman Jalen Robinson (7 points, 9 rebounds) translated that into a more muscled effort inside Saturday. Afterward, Musketeers coach Chris Mack said this, along with Dillard’s 17 points and his control of the game’s tempo (“He’s a magician with the ball”) was the difference.
“Their post play was so much better from Game 1 to Game 2,” Mack added. “Both Benson and Robinson played well. Benson scored the ball real well and Robinson had five offensive rebounds. Their front court did better, ours didn’t and that was the difference.”
UD coach Archie Miller said it’s often just a matter of Benson getting his confidence up and Saturday he thought the fifth-year senior had his best conference game of the season.
Not only did that make the outcome different, but it will change things on campus Monday, Dillard said:
“When we lose (the other students) are usually pretty quiet. And I just keep my headphones on and my head down and I’m chillin’. I’m embarrassed — for real.”
With a smile, he admitted this Monday will be different:
“I can go in with my head held high. It’ll be all different this week.”
That’s what happens when you’re able to rewrite a déjà vu moment.
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