Holmes, Elvis & Santos Combine For 51 Points

DAVIDSON, N.C. – The University of Dayton men’s basketball team jumped out to a 15-point halftime lead and maintained a double-digit advantage in the second half to grab a 72-59 road win at Davidson Wednesday night.

It was the Atlantic 10 Conference opener for both teams.  Dayton is now 11-2 on the season, and has won eight in a row.  Davidson is 10-4 overall.  Wednesday’s game snapped a seven-game win streak for the Wildcats and was their first home loss of the season.

DaRon Holmes II led all scorers with 18 points, Kobe Elvis had 17 (14 in the first half) and Nate Santos added 16.  Enoch Cheeks grabbed 10 rebounds and also had four steals.

GAME RECAP
1st Half – Dayton 36, Davidson 21
•    Dayton opened the scoring with a Javon Bennett-to-Daron Holmes II alley-oop for the second straight game.
•    A Kobe Elvis three gave UD a 6-0 lead.
•    Davidson got back to 6-5 with five unanswered points,
•    After the two teams traded buckets, Dayton used a 10-0 spurt to lead 18-7 with 10:22 left in the half. The last five of that run came from Isaac Jack.
•    The Flyer margin ranged from six to 13 until Nate Santos grabbed a missed free throw and scored with 49 seconds to go.
•    Elvis led all scorers with 14 points.
2nd Half – Dayton 72, Davidson 59
•    UD outscored Davidson 9-5 in the first five minutes of the second half to grad its biggest lead of the game (45-26).
•    The Flyers led again by 19 (55-36) with 11:25 to go.
•    Back-to-back “pick six” steals and dunks by Enoch Cheeks and Holmes put Dayton up 18 (65-47) with 4:31 left.
•    The Wildcats tallied the seven points in the next 52 seconds to pull within 11, but Dayton closed out with the last six points coming from Holmes.

BY THE NUMBERS
•    18 – DaRon Holmes II scored 18 points, 15 in the second half, to lead all scorers.
•    17 – Kobe Elvis tallied 17 points, with 14 coming in the first half.
•    16 – Nate Santos had 16 points (3-5 from beyond the arc).
•    10 – Enoch Cheeks grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds
•    12 – Dayton came up with 12 steals in the game, with nine coming from starting guards Cheeks (4), Javon Bennett (3) and Elvis (2).
•    6 – Bennett led with six assists, and was rated at a team-best +20 for the game.
•    50 – The Flyers shot 50% (26-52) for the game, and held the Wildcats to 39% (21-54).

UP NEXT
•    Dayton returns home to meet UMass on Sunday.
•    Game time is 1 p.m. ET.
•    Sunday’s contest will be televised on ESPN2.

COURTESY DAYTON MEDIA RELATIONS