Enoch Cheeks hit four threes and scored 23 points. (Press Pros File Photos)
After four straight flat performances, including their narrow escape against Chicago Loyola in UD Arena Saturday, the University of Dayton Flyers put all the pieces together Tuesday night to destroy Duquesne, 82-62, in Pittsburgh, UD’s first true road game win of the season.
Hall of famer Hal McCoy writes UD Flyer basketball exclusively for Press Pros Magazine.com.
Pittsburgh, PA — Somebody once said, “Take the high road, the view is better.”
So far this season, the Flyers traveled the low road when they visited Atlantic-10 opponents and the view was uglier than a waste dump.
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That all changed with a vengeance Tuesday night against Duquesne in the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
The temperature outside was 8 degrees, but the Flyers played as if their pants were on fire, burying the Dukes under a conflagration of three-pointers. Their shooting was hot enough to grow orchids in the gymnasium.
It was Dayton, 82, Duquesne 62, the Dukes showing no semblance of a team that entered the game tied for first place in the A-10 with a 4-1 record. And they were 3-and-0 at home.
Javon Bennett scored 16 despite fouling out with seven minutes to go.
The Flyers, though, resurrected themselves as the team that beat UConn in the Maui Invitational Classic and beat Marquette in UD Arena.
It lifted the Flyers to 3-3 in the A-10 and 13-6 overall. They actually led by 30 midway through the second half , 66-36, before they lifted their sneakers off the accelerator.
The Flyers played only their third true road game Tuesday night and this time they took the high road, avoiding the ruts and potholes of the low road in their first two road games.
After losing to George Washington and UMass on the road, when they were favorites, UD was the favorite again against Duquesne and more than showed it with a near-perfect performance.
UD’s first five baskets were three-pointers, two by Enoch Cheeks, two by Nick Santos and one by Javon Bennett. It was a hint of what was to come.
The Flyers finished 13 for 23 (56.5%) on three-pointers and 32 of 55 (58.2%) overall.
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Duquesne is coached by Dru Joyce III, a man who played high school basketball with LeBron James at Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary.
Even LeBron James couldn’t have helped the Dukes on this night.
Amael L’Etang dunks on his way to a career-high 16 points.
Those early three-pointers launched the Flyers to a quick 20-11 lead, that expanded to 44-25 at intermission. UD made 15 of 27 shots in the first 20 minutes, 9 of 13 beyond the three-point arc.
And the Flyers were shorthanded with Posh Alexander and Zed Key on the sidelines with injuries. It didn’t matter.
“Offensively, the ball moved really well,” said UD coach Anthony Grant. “The guys shared it. . .25 assists. It was great to seem them playing for each other and it helps when shots go in.
“The guys did a great job of playing for each other and playing off of each other,” he added. “The 25 assists is certainly what you want to see.”
After setting a career high with 26 points Saturday against Chicago Loyola, Cheeks scored 23 Tuesday and was 4 of 6 from the three-point line.
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And he had time to steal the ball four times, pass out four assists and six rebounds.
“Y’know, Cheeks is a really good player,” said Grant. “He had a stretch where he wasn’t playing up to what he is capable of and what he wanted to. It’s great to be able to see that the work he puts in. He played off his teammates tonight and they played off him tonight.”
Nate Santos drives to the basket for two points with his left hand.
Amael L’Etang made his third straight and chipped in with a career-high 16 and Javon Bennett added 16 before fouling out with seven minutes left.
Point guard Malachi Smith rested his arm and took only one shot. He scored three points, three free throws at the end of the half. But he was not immobile like a plastic Jesus on the dashboard. He ran the operation with the skill of a Caterpillar operator with nine assists.
And Isaac Jack, playing only 13 minutes, made four of six shots and scored eight points.
And it wasn’t all three-pointers. The Flyers also scored 36 points in the paint. In addition, their hustle-defense returned. After Duquesne made three three-pointers to start the game, the Flyers contested every shot, making life miserable for the Dukes, particularly under the basket.
Malachi Smith scored only three points, but contributed nine assists.
“I thought the guys did a really good job with the scouting report,” said Grant. “That team was playing really well. They are a prolific three-point shooting team, so the emphasis was to try to take some of that away from them.
“I thought we did a good job of making it difficult for them,” he added. “They still made 10 threes (on 26 attempts), six in the first half, four in the second half. Our guys made it really difficult for them to get the looks.”
Grant was ecstatic over what he saw both on the stat sheet and what he saw on the floor.
“Both sides of the ball, we had a lot of guys do a lot of good things to help the team win,” he said.
So after being as flat as runway 24R at Dayton International for four games, including the two-point escape at home Saturday against Chicago Loyola in UD Arena, the Flyers used a blue collar performance into a blue chip win.
Jacob Conner came off the bench with a dunk to help the winning cause.
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