Dayton plays best game of the season so far in Charleston Classic semifinals

No one will ever know if Dayton would have won the NCAA tournament almost four years ago if the pandemic hadn’t robbed it of the opportunity, but UD fans will find out Sunday if the Flyers can win a smaller but still very meaningful championship in Charleston.

The Flyers (3-1) beat St. John’s 88-81 in the Charleston Classic semifinals to earn a date with No. 6 Houston (5-0) in the championship game at 8:30 p.m. Sunday. Houston beat Utah 76-66 in the semifinals.

“It means a lot,” said Dayton forward DaRon Holmes II, who led the Flyers with 21 points. “Everybody has to buy in, and this team is doing a very good job of it. We’ve just got to keep going step by step one day at a time, and we’ll be OK.”

One day after making two 3-pointers, one by Nate Santos with 4.1 seconds remaining, in the final minute to beat LSU 70-67, Dayton took the drama out of this game with a 9-0 run from the 11:13 mark to the 9:33 mark. A basket by Enoch Cheeks, a 3-pointer by Holmes, two free throws by Holmes and two free throws by Koby Brea turned a 59-58 deficit into a 67-59 lead.

St. John’s (2-2) got no closer than six points the rest of the way.

“Great effort tonight,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said. “I thought our guys really battled. Our game last night really was a test of character and showed us a lot about who we were. Tonight, we had different types of adversity that hit with foul trouble early, but the guys show great resolve and great resiliency. I’m really proud of the way they figured some things out defensively in the second half to take away some of the some of the things that were hurting us in the first half. Offensively, just sharing the ball, playing together, it was really fun to watch.”

Dayton won by making 7 of 17 3-pointers (41.2%) and 23 of 28 free throws (82.1%). Santos scored 16 points and twice converted 3-point plays on drives to the basket in the second half. Cheeks, Brea and Kobe Elvis all had 10 points.

Joel Soriano led St. John’s with 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting. The Red Storm were hurt by Dayton outscoring them 18-7 in points off turnovers.

Dayton also had a 24-14 advantage in bench points thanks in part to Zimi Nwokeji and Petras Padegimas each scoring five points in the first half.

St. John’s coach Rick Pitino, who fell to 0-3 against Dayton with two losses coming during his days at Louisville, said he wasn’t overly disappointed his team lost to Michigan on Monday but was overly disappointed with this loss.

“We’re losing because we can’t pay attention to the scouting report,” Pitino said. “We’ve got guys that just care about offense and they don’t know how to defend.”

SUNDAY’S GAME

Dayton vs. Houston/Utah, 8 p.m., ESPN, 1290, 95.7