Malachi Smith drives for the basket on a big personal night. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Julie McMaken Wright)
The University of Dayton basketball team fell behind by 13 points in the first half and trailed by 10 with 11 minutes left against Northwestern Saturday night in UD Arena. But the Flyers used a 20-3 run to grab the lead it never relinquished in a 71-66 win.
Hall of famer Hal McCoy writes UD Flyer basketball exclusively for Press Pros Magazine.com.
Dayton, OH. — If it was an early-season Litmus test for the University of Dayton Flyers Saturday night, they passed.
It wasn’t with flying colors and, in fact, their flag was at half mast with 11 minutes left.
The Flyers, though, tugged the rope hard in those final 11 minutes and scored a 71-66 victory over Northwestern University in UD Arena.
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The rescue mission mostly was provided by Enoch Cheeks, Malachi Smith and Nate Santos.
Cheeks was a defensive demon with six steals and was 7 of 10 from the field en route to 16 points, tying Santos for team most. Smith, finally healthy after nearly two years of knee and leg problems, directed traffic and contributed 14 points.
Nate Santos drives to the hoop en route to 16 points.
“Cheeks is one of the hardest working players on the team, if not the hardest,” said Zed Key, the 6-8 grad transfer from Ohio State. “His intangibles. . .he plays hard, steals the ball, locks up their best players — just the little things and he can score. People ask me who impressed me on our team and I always, ‘Enoch Cheeks.’
Northwestern figured to be a challenge for the newly tooled Flyers and it certainly was, especially, a lefthanded dust devil named Nick Martinelli, who dropped 32 on the Flyers.
But he also had his miseries with six turnovers and no assists. And the Wildcats were without their best player, Brooks Barnhizer, out with a foot injury.
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Most of the game was hand-to-hand combat and finding shots without fingers near your eyes was no delicate matter.
Northwestern never trailed in the first half and led by 13 at one point, 27-14.
Javon Bennett 5-foot-10, encounters a 7-foot giant as he passes off.
The Flyers couldn’t shoot, the Flyers couldn’t make free throws and the Flyers couldn’t rebound. Northwestern outboarded the Flyers in the first half, 21-12. And the Wildcats had seven offensive rebounds to one for the Flyers
That was all adjued and rectified in the final 11 minutes.
“Going into halftime, coach Grant said, ‘Stay the course, go out and play aggressive and play like we know how to play,’” said Key. “We took it to heart, turned them over, limited them to one shot in the second half.”
Still, the Flyers were on the wrong end, 51-41, with the game fast ticking away.
“It was good for us to go through a little adversity early in the season,” said Smith, a 6-0 junior guard and a brother to former UD star Scoochie Smith.
“We didn’t put our heads down, we just kept fighting. With 11 minutes to go, I told the team, ‘Let’s go. We still got 11 minutes to go.’ That’s exactly what they did. They responded.”
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With vigor and vengeance that led to victory.
The 20-3 game-changing, game-winning UD run when Northwestern was in command, 51-41, and it looked as if the Flyers were grounded:
***Cheeks drove, 51-43 (10:27).
Zed Key is fouled as he drives toward the basket.
***Santo drove, 51-45 (9:31)
***Javon Bennett buried a three off a Northwestern turnover, 51-48 (8:57).
***Smith drove into the paint on a fast break, 51-50 {8:13).
Northwestern made one of two free throws, 52-50.
***Smith made two free throws to tie it, 52-52 (7:44).
***Cheeks stole the ball from Martinelli and drove to the basket for UD’s first lead, 54-52 (7:22) and the fans nearly plunged the Arena into the Great Miami River with its building-shaking response.
***Cheeks again, a follow-up shot in the lane, 56-52 (4:58).
Martinelli hit a jump shot to bring Northwestern back to within two, 56-54, with 3:47 to go.
***Then came the coup de grace. Zen Key hit a jumper and Bennett scored in the paint and it was 61-54 with 2:31 left.
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And that was that.
“The first half, our guys did a really good job defensively,” said UD coach Anthony Grant. “They understood the scouting report and what we had to do.”
If that report said, “Stop Martinelli,” it failed. Said Grant, “Martinelli is a really good player, a load, and he impacted the game.”
Enoch Cheeks was UD’s quiet assassin during Flyers victory.
The first-half problem was keeping Northwestern away from the windows, which the Flyers were not able to do.
“They were really able to dominate the glass in the first half and we knew that would be a big part of it,” said Grant. “They had 11 second-chance points and we talked about it and fixed it.”
The Flyers were unable to connect in the first half — 8 for 23 and 4 for 12 from three. It was a change of heart in the second half, 16 of 22 from the field and 4 for 9 three-pointers.
“Like any game, it comes down to making shots,” said Grant. “We struggled for stretches in the first half and we had a lull that enabled them to build a double digit lead.
“At the half, we talked about continuing to guard and we had to do a better job on the glass,” he added. Both missions were accomplished.
The Flyers utilized a full-court press in large portions of the game and it wore down the Wildcats.
“It was impactful, both halves,” said Grant. “It had a cumulative effect over the course of 40 minutes. In order to get into the press, you have to score. We struggled in the first half. In the second half we had more consistency in being able to score and the press became impactful and took its toll on them.”
The Wildcats still led, never trailed, when Angelo Ciaravino drove for a basket that gave Northwestern a 51-41 lead with 11 minutes left.
Then the game changed like a blushing chameleon. It became 13,412 against five as the Flyer Faithful rattled the rafters and rattled Northwestern.
“It was rockin’ in the Arena,” said Key. “There was a point in the game where I couldn’t even hear myself think. It was so, so loud.”
UD went on a 20-3 sprintaway that netted them a 61-54 lead they never surrendered. The Flyers first lead of the game came at 7:20 when Cheeks stole the ball at mid-court from Martinelli and drove to the basket.
The Flyers led and Northwestern was dead.
Nate Santos, Malachi Smith and Enoch Cheeks en route on a fast break to the basket.
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