The piece, which was presented to the university in 1986, a year after the arena opened, might have nothing to do with basketball, but in a way, it describes what has happened to the Dayton Flyers in the last two games.
After five losses in six games, Dayton has awakened with a modest two-game winning streak that included a 70-59 victory against Davidson on Sunday at UD Arena and an 82-67 victory at George Mason on Wednesday.
With two victories in four days, Dayton (17-9, 8-5) raised hopes that it can put the worst stretch for the program in 12 years behind it and build momentum for the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament. The Flyers led from start to finish against George Mason and enjoyed a double-digit cushion for the last 10 minutes.
“We talked about it in the locker room,“ Dayton guard Jordan Derkack said. ”I think we’re playing our best basketball right now. You don’t want that to be in November. You want that to be in late February and early March."
Dayton remained tied for fourth place with Duquesne (16-10, 8-5), which won 62-61 at home against La Salle (7-19, 3-10) on Wednesday, and Saint Joseph’s (16-10, 7-5), which won 71-65 at St. Bonaventure (14-12, 3-10)
Here are three takeaways from Dayton’s 26th game:
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
1: Dayton ended several streaks: Dayton had lost four games in a row to George Mason before this victory. The Flyers had not beaten the Patriots since 2021 when they played twice at UD Arena during the pandemic and won both games.
• Dayton won at EagleBank Arena for the first time since the fourth-to-last game of the 2019-2020 season. Ibi Watson made a key basket in the final minute after George Mason had cut Dayton’s lead to 57-55, and the Flyers escaped with a 61-55 victory, clinching a share of the A-10 championship with three games to play.
• Entering this game, Dayton had lost four straight road games, the last two by a total of 57 points. Dayton opened A-10 play with road victories at Loyola Chicago and Duquesne but had since lost at La Salle, Saint Joseph’s, Saint Louis and Virginia Commonwealth.
“We needed it bad,“ Derkack said. ”We needed it for the team. We needed it for every individual."
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
2: Amaël L’Etang and Javon Bennett carried the offense: L’Etang scored a career-high 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting. He has scored in double figures in six straight games after failing to score in his first three appearances after returning from a knee injury.
“I feel like we’re playing very good basketball right now,” L’Etang said. “It’s perfect for me and my teammates.”
L’Etang scored baskets on Dayton’s first two possessions. Later in the first half, he had a 3-point play and a 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions.
“He played really well tonight,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said. “He battled. It was a physical game. He was able to finish plays. I think the process of him getting himself back healthy and conditioned, I think it’s paying off.”
Bennett scored 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting. He made 5 of 9 3-pointers after making 2 of 13 in the last two games. He led the team to its second best outside shooting performance of the season (11 of 21, 52.4%).
Bennett leads Dayton with 16.0 points per game.
“I think Coach did a good job of putting us in the right position,” Bennett said. “We tried some different things to see what worked and didn’t work. We’ve been doing well. Today it showed what we’re capable of. Hopefully, we just keep going.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
3: George Mason continues to struggle: After starting the season 18-1 for the first time in school history, George Mason (21-6, 9-5) has lost five of its last eight games, including three in a row. It has a half-game lead over the three teams tied for fourth.
George Mason fell to 15-2 at home this season. It had won 15 of its last 16 A-10 home games before this loss.
“I thought we were a really unselfish group,” George Mason coach Tony Skinn said, “and tonight we were super selfish and just not tough enough. This is a really good Dayton team, and maybe these guys don’t necessarily understand it because they come from all different places, but Dayton started out (5-0) in conference play and then lost four in a row, partly because they had a lot of injuries and they didn’t have their full team.
“And the message to these guys was when Dayton’s healthy, Dayton’s good enough to beat anybody in the country. They beat Marquette. They lost a one-possession game at BYU. They beat Georgetown. They beat Florida State. I think it’s a tournament team. That messaging wasn’t heard. I’m concerned. This is also a team that’s been phenomenal through a lot of stretches. You have no choice but to stay patient.
NEXT GAME
Who: Duquesne at Dayton
When: 2 p.m., Saturday
TV: WHIO-TV
Radio: 95.7-FM, 1290-AM
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