Dayton Flyers News: Cheeks scores 1,000th career point as Men’s Basketball Puts Away Duquesne in 2nd Half Push

By Annie Walker

Enoch Cheeks slams on home (photo by Erik Schelkun, courtesy Dayton Media Relations)

2/13/2024

 

Dayton Erases A Four-Point Lead With A 22-2 Scoring Run To End The Game

BOX SCORE

https://daytonflyers.com/documents/2024/2/13/UDMBB_vs_Duquesne_2-13-2024.PDF

 

POSTGAME INTERVIEWS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rglN5F_J0TQ

 

DAYTON – The University of Dayton men’s basketball team put together another conference win against the Duquesne Dukes to sweep the regular season series. The Flyers pulled away with a 22-2 spurt over the last six-and-a-half minutes to win 75-59.

The Flyers found an opportunity at the free throw line as the Dukes put Dayton in the double bonus with 5:30 to go. The Flyers capitalized by attempting 23 free throws on the night while making 16 (69.6%).   UD made 12 of its last 14 at the charity stripe.

DaRon Holmes II scored a double-double with 24 points and 11 rebounds. This is Holmes’ seventh double-double of the season and his second consecutive after scoring 12 points with 11 rebounds in the game against VCU.

Dayton, ranked 16th/18th in this week’s AP and Coaches polls, is 20-4 overall and stands in second place in the Atlantic 10 with a 10-2 record. Duquesne falls to 14-10 and is 4-7 in conference play.

GAME RECAP
1st Half – Dayton 36, Duquesne 33

  • Duquesne scored the first five points of the game.
  • At the 17:26 mark, Holmes opened the Dayton scoring with a dunk.
  • Duquesne continued to outscore the Flyers, leaving the score 14-4 at the 13:22 mark.
  • The Dukes took their largest lead of the night (20-9) at the 10:32 mark, and again with 9:50 to go (22-11).
  • Holmes created momentum in the building with a layup at 7:56 mark.
  • The Flyers went on a 13-2 run which brought the score to 24-24 with five minutes left to play.
  • The Dukes made a driving layup as time expired to cut the Flyers’ lead to three at the half.
  • Holmes led the Flyers with 12 points in the first half.

2nd Half – Dayton 75, Duquesne 59

  • Duquesne opened the half with a layup off of a stolen ball.
  • Enoch Cheeks started the Flyers’ half by scoring a layup on the next possession.
  • Santos’ three-pointer at 16:10 gave the Flyers their largest lead of the to that point of six points (43-37).
  • The Flyers gave up the lead to a Duquesne layup to make it 45-44 with 13:53 to go. The Flyers had not given the Dukes the lead since 3:28 in the first half.
  • Holmes gave the Flyers the lead once again with two layups and a successful and-one attempt with 12:04 left to make the score 49-45.
  • The Dukes made a three-pointer to give them the lead of 55-53 at the timeout with 7:40 to go.
  • At this timeout, Dayton was on a 2:00 scoring drought while going 0-for-4 in field goals.
  • Duquesne put Dayton into double bonus with 5:30 to go. Santos and Holmes were able to capitalize and give the Flyers the lead at 58-57.
  • A Cheeks steal and two successful free throws put the Flyers on a 9-0 run, even though they were on a 6:25 field goal drought.
  • Holmes hit a layup to break the field goal drought with 04:18 to go, which gave the Flyers a game-high seven point lead at 64-57. Duquesne proceeded to call a timeout.
  • Dayton extended their scoring run to 14-0 at the 3:00 media timeout. The Flyers led 67-57.
  • Koby Brea three pointer from Kobe Elvis with 3:27 to go gave Dayton its first double-digit lead of the night, and his trey from Holmes at the 1:17 mark made it 73-57.
  • Duquesne scored with 9.6 seconds to go, which was their first basket since 6:39 to go in the half. This broke Dayton’s 22-point scoring run.

BY THE NUMBERS

  • 22 — Dayton went on a 22-point scoring run to close out the game.
  • 24 – DaRon Holmes II led the Flyers with 24 points while going 10-for-18 from the field.
  • 11 – Holmes had 11 rebounds on the evening, which gave him his seventh double-double of the season.
  • 26 — Koby Brea was a team-best +26 in the win.  He scored 12 points, and made four of five three-pointers.
  • 15 — Nate Santos was the second-highest scorer with 15 points while going 5-for-6 from the free-throw line.
  • 10 — Enoch Cheeks scored 10 points, with eight coming in the second half.
  • 1,000 — Cheeks scored his 1,000th collegiate point during the first half.  He now has 1,0008 points (846 at Robert Morris, 162 so far at Dayton).
  • 4 — Javon Bennett, the A-10 assist-to-turnover ratio leader, led with four assists against zero turnovers.
  • 3 — Holmes blocked three shots
  • 2 — Holmes and Cheeks led Dayton with two steals.  Both of Cheeks’ came in Dayton’s 22-2 game-closing run.

UP NEXT

  • The Flyers are back home on Saturday against the Fordham Rams.
  • Game time is 1:30 p.m. ET.
  • That is Dayton’s annual Hall of Fame Game.  Volleyball player Lindsay Fletemier, football quarterback Kevin Hoyng, administrator Ken Keck and baseball pitcher Luke Trubee will be recognized during halftime ceremonies.

 

COURTESY DAYTON MEDIA RELATIONS