DaRon Holmes II fought off defensive aggression to score 20 points. (Press Pros File Photos)
With second place in the Atlantic 10 conference on the line, two players from the Columbus area were major thorns in the sides of the University of Dayton Flyers, leading Loyola of Chicago to a 77-72 win in Chicago, dropping UD to third place in the A-10 at 12-4.
Chicago, ILL. — Sister Jean, the 103-year-old Loyola of Chicago team chaplain, took the mic before the Ramblers played the University of Dayton Friday night and offered a prayer.
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At the end, she said, “We pray You give Loyola this victory.”
There is no evidence in existence that the Almighty has any interest in deciding the outcome of any college basketball game, but Sister Jean can say her prayer was answered.
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In a wild skirmish on the Gentile Arena floor, Loyola outmugged the Flyers, 77-72, to grab second place in the Atlantic 10 standings at 13-3. And it dropped the Flyers to third place at 12-4.
What happened to the Flyers? Everything negative, despite the fact they were resplendent in their chapel blue uniforms, in which they were 3-and-0.
Enoch Cheeks scored a season’s best 16 points.
The main culprit was Loyola’s scrappy, dogged, static cling, industrial-strength defense. They forced the Flyers into a season-high 22 turnovers. And those turnovers led to 20 Loyola points.
The biggest issue was that UD point guard Javon Bennett injured his left hand when he caught it inside a jersey and he sat the entirety of the second half.
“We had to play some guys in different roles,” said UD coach Anthony Grant, his voice hoarse as he talked to Larry Hansgen on the post-game radio show.
“When you lose a guy who has been able to run your team all year, in the middle of the game. . .but we had a chance to win and that was formidable,” Grant added.
Bennett’s departure forced Kobe Elvis to assume the ball-handling assignment, mostly without rest, and he committed seven turnovers.
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Bennett had seven assists and no turnovers in the first half.
“They were very physical, very aggressive, a lot of pressure,” said Grant. “We knew that coming in.
“We ended up with 11 turnovers in each half and that’s 22 possessions where we didn’t get a shot in a two-possession game,” he added. “Obviously, that was a big part of it. The turnovers were the biggest part of why we were not able to be successful.”
Nate Santos contributed 13 points, but they were not enough.
As usual, DaRon Holmes II endured in-your-face and in-your-shorts defense and the Ramblers could commit second degree manslaughter before a whistle was heard.
Holmes drew 10 fouls, but it could have been 20, but worked his head band off to score 20 points and pull down nine rebounds.
On the other side, a pair of Loyola players who played their high school ball 70 miles from Dayton in the Columbus area, extracted several pounds of flesh from the Flyers.
Dee Watson, a 6-foot-5 junior guard from Columbus and a transfer from Davidson, tied his career-high with 24 points, 16 in the first half.
He averages 12.7 points a game.
Braden Norris, a 6-foot grad student from Columbus, took over the second half with 16 points. He finished with 19, plus 11 assists and four steals.
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He averages 8.7 points a game.
“They made some shots, made some plays,” said Grant.
Norris, the smallest Loyolaist, was the biggest at making shots and making plays.
The Flyers were behind, 69-65, with three minutes left when Kobv Brea hit a three to draw UD to within 69-68. But Norris swished a three from the left corner and Loyola was back on top, 72-68 with two minutes left.
Kobe Brea sank two of his five three-point attempts.
With 1:36 left, the Flyers were buzzed for a shot clock violation. They got the ball back with no damage, but Brea missed a three with 1:04 left.
The Flyers caught another break when Norris missed two free throws with 59 seconds remaining. Elvis drove the lane for a basket, cutting the margin to 75-72 with eight seconds left.
Then Norris wiped those two missed free throws off his chart. He found himself clear and free and open on an inbounds pass on nearly the same spot from where he made his previous three, only a bit closer.
Once again he buried it and buried the Flyers, a butcher knife that put the game in Loyola’s hope chest, 77-72.
“It was a competitive game, a lot of back-and-forth,” said Grant. “Our guys battled, they gave everything they had, unfortunately we came up short.”
Indeed, it was back and forth, but at the end the Flyers were at the back. There were 10 lead changes and seven ties.
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In a two-possession game, what happened at the end of the first half was big, too. The Flyers had a 35-29 lead with two seconds left in the half. But Santos fouled that guy Norris on a three-point heave to beat the buzzer.
And he made all three to slice UD’s intermission advantage to 35-32.
Enoch Cheeks scored a season-high 16 to back up Holmes and Nate Santos had 13. But Elvis was four for eight for his eight points and Brea made only two of his five three attempts.
Kobe Elvis took over the point in the second half.
The Flyers cleanly and clearly outshot the Ramblers, making 24 of 46 shots (52.2%) and 7 of 15 threes (46.7%), but the turnovers took away 22 possible shots.
Loyola took 59 shots, 13 more than UD, and made 26 (44.1%) and 11 of 27 threes (40.7%) . And they had 20 assists on its 26 field goals.
As an added disadvantage, lurking next to Loyola head coach Drew Valentine was his special advisor, a guy with University of Dayton blood coursing through his body.
Dan Hipsher was a long-time assistant coach to legendary and iconic UD head coach Don Donoher.
If that isn’t enough, Hipsher was associate head coach for four years under current UD coach Anthony Grant at the University of Alabama.
So Hipsher probably whispered things in Valentine’s ear about what to expect on each of Grant’s moves.
Now that probably had more to do with the outcome than Sister Jean’s prayer.