De’Shayne Montgomery led the Flyers with 17 points in Saturday’s win over North Carolina Central. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Julie Wright -Daniel)
North Carolina Central came to UD Arena after winning its previous game, 123-67, but it was a mirage because of the opposition, so the University of Dayton Flyers concentrated on not having a letdown after a big win Wednesday at Marquette and scored a 74-55 win over NCCU Saturday afternoon in UD Arena.
Dayton, OH — In its previous game, before traipsing into UD Arena Saturday afternoon, North Carolina Central University’s basketball team won a game, 123-67.
Whoa, Nellie. Was this a basketball behemoth arriving to dismember the University of Dayton Flyers on their own court, the self-anointed ‘Epicenter of College Basketball?’
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Well, not really. That win came against a 1,600-student school called Toccoa Falls College, famous only for a 186-foot waterfall on its campus.
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More indicative of North Centra’s early season were games against North Carolina State, a 114-66 loss, against Virginia, an 81-62 loss, and even against Appalachian State, a 76-54 loss.
So that was the backdrop Saturday and, as expected, North Central was a pre-Thanksgiving dessert for the Flyers.
North Carolina Central scored 68 fewer points agains the Flyers than it did against Toccoa Falls.
The Flyers romped, as they should, 74-55, and that score is not truly indicative of UD’s dominance. UD was favored by 28 1/2 points. And with 11 minutes left, the Flyers led bv 35, 62-27.
From there, the Flyers removed their hands from around NCCU’s necks and coach Anthony Grant used an assortment of different lineup combinations.
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So what can a team like UD gain in a game like this against a smaller program that is experiencing a down season?
Asked that question, UD coach Anthony Grant, ever the class act, put some sugar on it.
Jaiun Simon totaled 3 points and three rebounds…matching his jersey number.
“Every opponent, in our minds, is worthy of of our full attention and our full respect,” he said. “And I think we gave that today. North Carolina Central is a very good program, a historic program. Their coach (LeVelle Moton, in his 17th season at NCCU) does a great job.”
This was the first meeting between UD and NCCU, but the visitors have played on the UD Arena floor three times.
Back in better days, they played in the First Four of the NCAA tournament, losing all three times. And these are not better days.
Grant, though, was concerned about a letdown after his team’s hardscrabble overtime win over Marquette, 77-71, in Milwaukee Wednesday night.
“I thought, overall today, our guys did a good job of undestanding the opportunity in front of us and taking advantage of it,”said Grant.
The opportunity was to win big and the Flyers won big with a potent fast break and stifling defense.
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The Flyers outscored NCCU on points off turnovers, 20-4, forcing 18 turnovers. After making 25 turnovers at Marquette, UD committed only seven Saturday.
“Sometimes these games are difficult coming off an emotional game from a few nights ago. We had to make sure to take care of ourselves,” said Grant.
Bryce Heard hits a three as a participant off the bench.
NCCU basically was a two-man show in the scoring department. Guard Gage Lattimore came in averaging 21.5 points and forward Kouri Carvey 14.7.
The Flyers put the full plunger on Lattimore. With seven minutes left in the game, he had zero points and was talking to himself and shaking his head.
One of his threee-point attempts was an air ball and he was 0 for 7 when he finally scored with 7:20 left.
That cut UD’s lead from 69-35 to a 69-37, so there was no panic, although Lattimore ended up scoring 13 points during garbage time down the stretch.
Carvey, shooting 6 of 9, accomplished his average with 15 points.
After a boggy start, 0 for 5 from three, the Flyers were tied, 7-7, five minutes into the game.
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Then, pouring points from all precincts and from an assortment of contributors, the Flyers exploded on a 22-2 run over the next seven minutes.
It was 27-9 and they could have stopped it and turned out the lights to save energy.
But the Flyers were having fun — particularly De’Shayne Montgomery, Javon Bennett, Jacob Conner and Malcomb Thomas.
Five-11 Javon Bennett looks up at North Carolina Centrtal’s 6-9 Khouri Carvey.
At one point in the second half, Bennett was out front on a fast break and could have laid in an easy lay-up.
But the guy is as unselfish as a Saint Bernand is a snowstorm. He banged the basketball high off the backboard so the trailer, Montgomery, could catch it and slam dunk it.
Those were two of Montgomery’s game-high 17 points. He also drained a three in front of NCCU’s bench, then turned and said something that broke up their bench.
Conner lost his starting job a few games ago but has become a valuable piece coming off the bench. On Saturday he played 24 minutes and scored 10 points with three steals and two blocked shots.
The emerging story, though, is 6-foot-8 freshman forward Malcomb Thomas. He was invisible for the first four games, but provided quality minutes off the bench at Marquette.
And he was even better Saturday — 21 minutes, 12 points, two rebounds and two blocked shots.
Malcolm Thomas slams down a dunk on North Carolina Central’s Kelechi Okworogwo.
Asked about sitting and biding his time before being turned loose, Thomas said, “I just stayed into it, stayed focused. Coach kept telling me to wait my turn and be ready when it comes and that’s what I did. Nobody wants to be on the bench, but I trust my coaches. (Assisant coach) Ricardo Greer is always in my ear. . . and I trust him and them. But, yes, it was a long time coming.”
Montgomery appreciates what he is seeing from Thomas, a transfer from Villanova, where he was a red-shirt freshman and didn’t play.
“He adds a lot,” he said. “He’s very athletic, adds a lot both offensively and defensively. He had, what, four blocks, five blocks (two and a couple of goal-tending calls)? Goal-tending? I don’t think so.
“He runs the floor and puts pressure around the rim. He’s an easy guy to play with, a lot of threats,” added Montgomery.
Said Grant, “Malcomb last year red-shirted at Villanova and didn’t get an opporunity to go through game experiences.
“Now it’s the experiences, him getting comfortable and us getting comfortable with what he’s capable of doing and what he’s learning on both sides. He’s learning what we need him to do to be the best version of himself and we’re learning how to help him do that.”
Thomas was on stage Saturday, under the bright lights, and if it had been a performance on America’s Got Talent, Simon Cowell would have given him two thumbs up, “And a great big yes.”
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