Buckeyes hoist one trophy, hope for more
Flyers show some of their potential, but also glimpses of weakness.
Ohio State’s win over Illinois secures a berth in the Big Ten title game, but first there’s Saturday’s game against Michigan.
The 1,000 CHARLESTON, S.C. — or so Dayton Flyers fans who traveled to the Charleston Classic saw the best and the worst of their team in the three games
— often on consecutive plays and sometimes on the same play.
It’s destined to be that type of season. It was that type of game Sunday as Dayton lost the fifthplace game 75-67 to Old Dominion at TD Arena, finishing 1-2 at the tournament and falling to 2-2 on the season.
The Flyers showed glimpses of potential but showed much more of their weaknesses. An experienced Old Dominion team with a fifth-year senior, a senior, two redshirt juniors, a redshirt sophomore and a redshirt freshman overwhelmed a Dayton teamplaying one senior, a redshirt junior, two juniors, a redshirt freshman and three true freshmen.
Dayton got off to a strong start. Darrell Davis hit his first two 3-pointers and scored 10 points in the first nine minutes. He finished with 27 points in part by hitting three 3-pointers in the last 50 seconds.
Old Dominion took control midway through the first half with a 17-5 run. Old Dominion’s Randy Haynes did the most damage in the first half. He entered the game averaging 7.0 points per game and scored 19 in the half on 6-of-10 shooting. He finished with 25 points.
The Flyers had to feel fortunate to only be down 39-29 at the break thanks to a 3-pointer by Josh Cunningham in the final seconds.
Dayton got as close as seven points in the second half only to see the Monarchs (4-1) go on a 10-4 run to put the game away.
Looking ahead: Dayton will play Akron at 7 p.m. Saturday at UD Arena. The game will be televised by Fox Sports Ohio. It will be the third time in the first five games Dayton has played a Mid-American Conference school. The Flyers beat Ball State and Ohio. The Zips are 2-0 with victories over Cleveland State and Tennessee-Martin.