Dayton shows resiliency, toughness in victory against Marquette

“It means a lot for us,” Dayton forward Jacob Conner said. “We wanted to take a lot of lessons from our first road game and kind of bring that into this one, and I think we did a good job of staying resilient. It’s a big early win for us.”

The Flyers didn’t trail for the last 27 minutes, 32 seconds but had to fight every second of the way to stay on top. They won despite committing 25 turnovers — one more than Cincinnati had against the Flyers. It was Dayton’s highest turnover total since they had 26 in a 61-59 loss at Mississippi State on Dec. 3, 2017.

“We had to win that game three or four times, actually,” Dayton guard Jordan Derkack said.

Here are three takeaways from Dayton’s fourth victory:

1: Conner made two big 3-pointers: The Alter graduate made 2 of 11 3s in Dayton’s first four games but made 2 of 2 against Marquette.

Conner’s first 3 was a rushed attempt to beat the shot clock with 8 minutes, 27 seconds to play in the second half. It gave the Flyers a 59-47 lead, their largest edge in the second half.

Marquette ran off seven quick points after falling behind by 12 and tied the game twice in the final two minutes of the second half, the last time with 40 seconds to play.

Dayton’s Keonte Jones turned the ball over with 20 seconds remaining. Marquette played for the last shot but didn’t get a shot off in time.

In overtime, Jones started the scoring with a 3 from the corner. Then Conner made his second 3, this time in front of the Dayton bench, extending Dayton’s advantage to 74-68 with 1:44 to play.

Jones blocked two shots in the last 40 seconds of overtime to help secure the victory.

“I’m so proud of Jacob,” Grant said. “He hadn’t had the best start to the season in terms of seeing shots go in, and he made two huge 3s for us.”

Credit: David Jablonski

Credit: David Jablonski

2: Bennett overcame cramps to help Dayton down the stretch: The senior guard led the Flyers with 19 points on 6-of-13 shooting. He clinched the victory with three free throws in the final minute and waved goodbye to the Marquette fans when the victory was secure.

Earlier in the second half, Bennett’s night appeared over. He left the game with cramps in both calves, returned for one play and then left the game again.

Finally, after much help from trainer Mike Mulcahey, Bennett returned to the game for good with 6:34 to play. He made a 3-pointer at the 4:21 mark to give Dayton a 64-58 lead.

“It just shows his toughness,” Grant said. “Credit to our medical staff for all they did to help him get back on the court. We needed him out there, and he made some big plays when he came back.”

3: Dayton improved to 2-9 in true road games in the last nine seasons: Dayton’s only other victory in Grant’s tenure came at Southern Methodist in the 2023-24 season.

Marquette has now lost two home games in a row — to Maryland and Dayton — after winning 17 non-conference home games.

Asked what it took to win the game, Dayton guard De’Shayne Montgomery, who scored 18 points, said, “It took everybody on our team. Going into overtime, we were tired, but people came in and made big plays. People on the bench had a lot of energy throughout the whole game. Everybody was needed for that win.”

NEXT GAME

Who: North Carolina Central at Dayton

When: Saturday, 2 p.m.

Streaming: ESPN+

Radio: 95.7-FM, 1290-AM