Jordan Derkack scores a basket en route to a double-double. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Julie Wright-Daniel)
With Amaël L’Etang and Malcolm Thomas out with injuries, the University of Dayton basketball team needed somebody to step up for the Flyers’ Atlantic 10 Conference Opener Wednesday at UD Arena against Fordham. And it was Jordan Derkack and Jaiun Simon giving the Flyers a double dose of uplift, leading UD to a 63-56 victory.
Dayton, OH. — Jordan Derkack covers a basketball floor like varnish. He is here, there, here again and over there again.
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He is a four-corner offense all by himself.
And with two main players missing due to injuries, the University of Dayton needed somebody to step up and step up high Wednesday afternoon.
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It was the Flyers’ Atlantic 10 Conference opener in UD Arena against Fordham and UD was without 7-foot-1 Amaël L’Etang and 6-foot-8 Malcolm Thomas.
So, the Flyer Faithful wanted to know, “Who shall step up and step forward.”
It was Derkack and Jaiun Simon playing rescue dogs as the Flyers held off feisty Fordham, 63-56.
Derkack is only 6-foot-5, but played as if he is 7-foot-5. . .a team-leading 15 points and a mind-boggling 14 rebounds while playing 34 of the 40 minutes.
The 15 points are a career-high at UD and the 14 rebounds are a collegiate career-high for the transfer from Rutgers.
Simon is one of those guys who commands respect off the bench, as in hell hath no fury like a bench player scored.
Simon, a 6-foot-6 red shirt freshman, made the most of 23 minutes with a career-best 11 points.
Jaiun Simon stepped up for the Flyers and had his career-best 11 points.
Derkack and Simon provided their best just when the Flyers needed it most.
The Flyers led Fordham, 41-28, early in the second half, but the Rams trimmed it to 47-45 with eight minutes left.
It was time for Derkack to dazzle. He drove for a basket, scored, and was fouled. He converted the old-fashioned three-point play. He hit two more free throws and drove to the basket during a personal seven-point run to push the Flyers back to a 52-47 lead.
Then with UD on top, 58-51, Simon drove for the coup de grace basket with 58 seconds left.
It was more challenging than the score and stats indicate. All the numbers favored the Flyers and suggested a blowout.
Not so. . .even though — The Flyers outscored the Rams, 18-4, off turnovers; outscored them 38-22 in the paint, outscored them on second half efforts, 19-10, outscored them on fast break baskets 9-4 and outscored them off the bench, 15-6.
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But it took Derkack and Simon to hold off the 9-and-5 Rams.
“To be down two of our better guys and still come out with the win is pretty impressive,” said Derkack. “I try to take over in my own ways and today, I guess, getting to the basket and getting rebounds. . .but I’m with whatever — setting screens, boxing out — I’m going to do whatever it takes to win a game. So today it was that I had to get to the basket.”
Javon Bennett launches one of his patented three-pointers.
He was 5 for 9 from the field and driving to the basket got him to the foul line for a 5 for 5 day.
Derkack played his high school ball at Colonia (N.J.) High School but was not recruited, “Because I was 5-foot-10 and about 160 pounds soaking wet.”
But they took him in at small-time Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass. After two years, he transferred to Rutgers for his junior year, then entered the transfer portal.
So the unrecruited kid out of high school said he received 150 calls and chose Dayton.
“I get goose bumps about being here because I came from not having anything,” he said. “One coach gave me a shot (at Merrimack) and now I’m playing in front of 13,000 in a soldout Arena every game. So it’s incredible.”
And he stays humble and modest. When asked about snagging 14 rebounds when he isn’t tall and doesn’t do dipsy-doodle dunks, he said, “It is a credit to guys like Jaiun (Simon) and Jacob Conner and Keonte Jones, guys who put in the work down low boxing out. We’re all fighting down there to get rebounds.
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“Sometimes you just get lucky and I think today was just one of those day’s when the ball kinda came to me a couple of times and I was able to grab them.”
Simon is of the mind that all good things come to those who sit and wait. And he waits patiently.
De’Shayne Montgomery added 10 points to the Flyers score.
“I just stay ready because you never know when an opportunity will present itself,” said Simon. “You just have to stay ready for every moment, then go out there and work.”
UD coach Anthony Grant knows it was mostly a matter of Derkack and Simon stepping up that enabled the Flyers to win this one.
“We’re pleased to be able to start the conference here at home and get a win,” he said. “Both teams were a little short-handed today, so guys had to step into some different roles.”
Fordham was missing three major pieces — Christian Henry (12.2 ppg), Abass Bodija (6.9 ppg) and Zarique Nutter (12.7 ppg).
“We had a lot of guys step up and provide, whether it be offense or defense,” Grant added. “Jaiun (Simon) was huge today with his effort and the resiliency that he showed. Jordan Derkack stepped up and made some plays when we needed them on offense,” said Grant.
It was the Flyers’ Atlantic 10 Conference opener in UD Arena against Fordham and UD was without 7-foot-1 Amaël L’Etang and 6-foot-8 Malcolm Thomas who both sit on the bench in street clothes due to injuries.
“The effort and the fight we showed today made the difference,” Grant added. “Neither team was stellar on the offensive end. But our guys were able to make plays to put us in position to find a way to win the game. . .and that’s what is most important.”
With L’Etang and Thomas absent, Fordham enforced the backboards, out-rebounding the Flyers, 41-33, mostly dominating the offensive boards.
Rikus Schulte, a 6-foot-9 junior from Germany, matched Derkack with 14 rebounds, but nine were on the offensive boards. Fordham outmatched the Flyers on the offensive boards, 16-8, and snagged nine offensive rebounds.
But he was not able to transfer them into baskets. He made only 2 of 6 shots. The Rams had only two players in double figures, Dey Dey Reaves with 18 and Akira Jacobs with 12.
Fordham made only 9 of 34 three-point shots and 21 of 60 overall. The Flyers were amiss at the three-point line, too — 4 for 16 — and hit 23 of 54 overall.
Step two for the Flyers in the A-10 happens Saturday afternoon in Chicago against Loyola.
“Loyola didn’t have a good non-conference season, but I understand they won their A-10 opener at Rhode Island today,” said Grant.
Jordan Derkack grabs one of his career-best 14 rebounds.
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