Javon Bennett led the shooting-challened Flyers at Virginia with 18 points. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
The University of Dayton Flyers basketball team gave the University of Virginia a strong first-half argument, but when UD was down only one point early in the second half, Virginia went on a 22-3 run that buried the Flyers behind a 7-for-7 shooting night from the three-point line by UVA guard Jacari White, who came off the bench to score 25.
Charlotte, N.C. — The University of Dayton and University of Virginia both played North Carolina Central on their home courts earlier this season.
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And both won by 19 points, easy strolls down their floors.
So wouldn’t it figure that the Flyers and Virginia would play a close and competitive game on a neutral court?
Well, it was. . .for a while.
But Virginia got white-hot, or more accurately White-hot in the second half and pulled away from the Flyers, 86-73, on the Spectrum Center floor in Charlotte, N.C.
UVA’s Jacari White was white-hot and the basket beckoned his three-point hoists like a backyard torch beckons moths — 9 for 9 overall, 7 for 7 from the three-point line that added up to 25 points.
And he came off the bench to do it as, amazingly, 53 of Virginia’s 86 points were scored by non-starters coming off the bench.
Apparently at Virginia, there is not like a bench player scorned.
Two minutes into the second half, the Flyers (7-3) were within a point, 39-38, of the Cavaliers (8-1).
De’Shayne Montgomery cooled off from his 27 points scored earlier in the week against East Tennessee.
Then led by White and his white head band, the Cavaliers went on a 22-3 eruption/explosion.
The Cavaliers hit 9 of 11 shots, 6 of 9 from three, to build a 62-41 lead.
White, averaging nine points a game, shot as if his hair was on fire, but he’s bald. He scored 13 of Virginia’s 22 in that sprint away and most of them never touched the rim. . .nothing but net.
And the transfer from North Dakota State has tied a school record with 11 straight made threes.
For some reason, Virginia coach Ryan Odom took White out of the game when his team led, 74-53.
And the feisty, fight-to-the-bitter-end Flyers went on a 14-0 run in three minutes and pulled to within 74-67 with 4:10 left.
After a timeout, Odom re-inserted White and guess what he did within 10 seconds? He threw in another three from the parking lot and Johann Grunloh scored underneath and it was back to 79-69.
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The Flyers never squeezed back to within closer than eight the rest of the way and UVA put it away in the final minutes with six free throws on seven attempts.
UD coach Anthony Grant didn’t know White’s name or didn’t want to say it.
During his post-game interview, Grant said, “There was our inability to understand the importance of getting to number six (White) the second half. He was deadly. A lot of times he was able to take advantage of bad (defensive) rotations and bad help on our part.”
A lot of times? Every time. White was a melange of made shots, all of them going through the nets unmolested.
“The start of the second half really hurt us. . .the first eight minutes we didn’t play with the energy we needed,” said Grant in a massive understatement. “We have to find a way to bring that and that’s on me.That’s on all of us to make sure we can start the second half better than we did today.”
UD’s scrappy, discombobulating, switching and pressing defense forced 21 turners and the Flyers took 19 more shots than Virginia.
But while the Flyers made only 25 of 64 (39.1%), Virginia hit 27 of 45 (60%), 15 of 23 in the second half.
As per usual, Javon Bennett led the Flyers with 18 points, but was 8 of 22 shooting, 2 for 6 from three. De’Shayne Montgomery began the game with a dunk. He dunked four times but made only one other basket (5 for 12) en route to 12 points.
The only other Flyer in doubles was Jordan Derkack with 10, but eight came from the foul line (8 for 10) and he was 1 for 5 from the field.
When it was mentioned that the Flyers didn’t die ingloriously, that they scrapped back to within seven late in the game, Grant was not appeased.
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“We play to win the game, so I have to look at what way to keep us from putting ourselves in those situations where we have to fight back like that,” he said.
The Flyers started fast and built a 15-10 lead, but another dry spell and a UVA spurt put the Flyers down 28-24 late in the half. . .an 0 for 7 shooting spell when UD went six minutes without a basket.
While UD was well-represented by fans, the Spectrum Center in Charlotte sounded more like a Virginia home game in Charlottesville, Va., 272 miles away. The trip for UD fans was 363 miles.
And adding to UVA’s fan base was the fact that the Virginia football team was in Charlotte to play Duke in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game just two blocks down the street.
So the Flyers have three losses on their resume due to an ambitious schedule that should serve them well for the Atlantic 10 Conference season.
Jordan Derkack scored 10…8 from the foul line. He was 1 for 5 from the floor.
They’ve beaten two Big East teams — Marquette and Georgetown. And they gave AP too-tenner Brigham Young a competitive game.
Virginia, despite its now 8-1 record with a big win at Texas earlier in the week, is not ranked and picked to finish fifth in the ACC.
The Flyers though, found out how good the Cavaliers are.
“Virginia is a good team, we knew that coming in,” said Grant. “Their ability to shoot the three (12 for 20), their ability to put pressure on you with their ability to defend, an efficient offensive team and a very good rebounding team.”
So what, if anything, did the Flyers take away any positives from the absorbed whipping.
“There are always things that we can learn,” said Grant. “Any time you play, to me, you should always be ready to learn. Some of these lessons — like second half against Georgetown, second half against BYU and second half today — we gotta be able to learn and figure out what we need to do.”
One harsh lesson against Virginia. . .at least put a hand in the face of the bald guy wearing a white head band.
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