By Bert Leeson

3 9 2024

Kobe Elvis, Koby Brea UD M BKB Postgame Press Conference B 3 8 2024 #25 Dayton 91 VCU 86.mp3

Flyers Trailed By 17 In The First Half , & 9 In The Second

DAYTON – The University of Dayton men’s basketball team clinched just the fourth undefeated season in UD Arena history Friday night, with a thrilling 91-86 overtime win over VCU.  UD trailed by as much as 17 in the first half, by seven at halftime, and by nine with just under 13 minutes to go in regulation.

All five starters scored in double figures for the Flyers, with Koby Elvis scoring 10 of his 15 points in the overtime period.  DaRon Holmes II led the Flyers in scoring with 23 points and 10 rebounds with Nate Santos adding 21 points Koby Brea scoring 18 and Enoch Cheeks 14.

Dayton, ranked 25th in this week’s AP poll, improves to 24-6 overall and 14-4 in the Atlantic 10. UD is third in A-10 play behind Richmond and Loyola Chicago.   VCU finishes the regular season 19-12 and 11-7 in conference.

GAME RECAP
First Half – VCU 38, Dayton 31
•  After a VCU three-pointer, DaRon Holmes II got the Flyers started by drawing foul and knocking down two free throws.
• The Rams scored the next five points to lead 8-2 at the 16:44 mark.
• VCU led by 11 (18-7) with 14:01 to go, and after a Dayton basket, scored the next six points to take its largest  lead (26-9) lead with 10:08 left.
• Koby Brea got himself on the board with a nice finger roll off a screen from Holmes to cut the lead 26-11
• Enoch Cheeks responded with a layup off the assist from Brea at 8:17 mark
• Santos got himself his second three of the game off a nice screen coming off the assist from Brea to cut the Rams lead 26-16 at 6:47 lead
• Holmes II was able draw the foul and was able to knock one of two from the line to cut the lead to under single digits (26-17) with 5:54 left.
• The Rams pushed their advantage back out to 13 (34-21) less than two minutes later.
• Santos continued his strong first half performance with a nice fastbreak layup at 3:06 mark.
• It was Santos again by dropping a dagger three off the assist from Kobe Elvis at the 2:31 mark, leading to a Rams timeout
• After a huge block from Cheeks led to a Holmes dunk off the assist from Cheeks to make it VCU 34, Dayton 28 just under two minutes left in the half.
• VCU scored and then Holmes continued to draw Ram fouls, knocking down one of two free throws at 1:06.
• Santos got a nice pass from Elvis and secured the layup to cut the Rams lead to 36-31 with 39 seconds to go.
• A pair of Ram free throws made it 38-31 going into the locker room.
• Santos led the way with 17 first-half points.
2nd Half – Dayton 70, VCU 70
• VCU scored first with a free throw, and then Cheeks got the Flyers their first points of the half by getting a bucket in the paint off the assist from Holmes .
• Off a rebound, Santos led a fastbreak with a nice pass to Holmes for a goaltended layup to make it a four-points game (39-35) two minutes and 15 seconds into the half.
• Brea was able to get himself his first three of the game off an assist from Cheeks to make it a four-point game at the 17:17 mark.
• Holmes threw it down with a nice pick-and-roll off the lob assist from Cheeks to cut Ram lead 44-40 once again at the 16:55 mark
• Cheeks continued his all around strong start to the half by answering a VCU three-pointer with one of his own at the 15:43 mark to get the margin to four once again.
• After VCU pushed back out to nine (52-43 with 12:56 left in regulation), Brea continued his hot shooting by securing back-to-back threes to keep the Flyers in the game, 52-49.
• Elvis got the fast break going and pulled up for a dagger three (and his first points of the game) at the 10:34 mark to make the score VCU 54, Dayton 52.  The was the closest the Flyers had been since 17:10 left in the first half.
• After a VCU free throw, the Flyers got back to within one (55-54)  with a nice pullup swish jumper from Elvis with 10:06 to go.
• The Rams answered every Dayton push for the lead over the next four minutes until Santos got himself a three-point swish to give the Flyers their first lead of the game (64-62) with 5:57 remaining in the second half.
• Holmes was able to give Dayton its last lead of regulation with a dunk to make it to 66-65 Flyers at the 4:22 mark.
• VCU scored the next five points to lead 70-66 with 2:47 left, but Cheeks continued the Flyers scoring with a layup at 2:31 mar, and Brea tied the game at 70 a piece with a nice pullup jumper in the paint at 1:35 mark .
• The two teams combined to miss five shots the rest of the period to send the game into overtime.
• After 40 minutes of play, UD had led for one minute and 37 seconds.
Overtime – Dayton 91, VCU 86
• Santos started the Flyers off in OT by drawing a foul on the first possession of the extra period and knocking down one of two to give the Flyers the lead 71-70.
• Holmes got himself a layup off the assist from Santos the next time down the floor to give the Flyers more breathing room 73-70.
• Elvis got himself a nice reverse layup to give the Flyers the lead back 75-74 at 2:29 mark.
• Holmes got himself a rebound that led to a Rams foul and knocked down both free throws to tie the game at 75 a piece at 1:47 mark.
• After a Rams three, Elvis responded right back a three of his own to tie the game at 80
• After forcing a Rams turnover, it was Elvis again with a swish three from the corner to give the Flyers the lead for good  forcing the Rams to call a timeout with 43 seconds left
• After a Flyers much-needed defensive stop, Elvis was able to draw the foul and knock down huge free throws to extend Flyers lead 85-80
• Cheeks added to his scoring by knocking down two free throws extending Flyers lead 87-80 (15 seconds left).
•  After a quick Rams three, Holmes continued to add to his scoring by knocking down one of two to keep Flyers in the lead 88-83 with nine seconds to go.
• After the Rams responded again with a three to cut Flyers lead to two, Cheeks knocked down one of two to keep Flyers in front 89-86 with 1.9 second on the clock.
• After a Ram turnover, Holmes II ended the Flyers scoring with two from the charity stripe, 91-86.
• Elvis was perfect in the overtime, knocking down all three of his field goals (two from distance) and both of his free throws.
• Holmes added seven points in extra time.
• After scoring 92 points in 40 minutes in the season first meeting at VCU, the two teams scored 37 points in the five minutes of overtime in Dayton.

BY THE NUMBERS
• 91 – Dayton’s starters scored all the points for the Flyers : DaRon Holmes II (23 points), Nate Santos (21 points), Koby Brea (18 points), Kobe Elvis (15 points), Enoch Cheeks (14 points)
• 10 – Kobe Elvis scored 10 of his points in OT
•  11 to 0 – The Flyers outshot the Rams with 11 free throws in overtime while the Rams didn’t shoot any
•  11 – Holmes had his A-10-leading 11th double-double (23 points, 10 rebounds).  It was his sixth in the last eight games.
• 5 – It was also Holmes fifth “Triple DaRon” with 23 points, 10 rebounds and 11 fouls drawn.
• 6 – Elvis and Cheeks shared team honors with six assists.
• 3 – Elvis had a career-best three steals 6
• 64% – Dayton made nine of 14 three-pointers after halftime.  UD shot 38% (3-of-8) in the first half.
• 15 – UD was 15-0 at home this season
• 4 — This is the fourth time in UD Arena history that this has been accomplished: 2008-09 under Brian Gregory, 2014-15 under Archie Miller, 2019-20 under Anthony Grant, and 2023-24 under Anthony Grant.

UP NEXT
•    Dayton heads into the Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball Championships as the No. 3 seed.
•  The Flyers’ first game will be at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Thursday, March 14th at 7:30 p.m. ET.

COURTESY DAYTON MEDIA RELATIONS