Smith comes close to Dayton’s first triple-double in win over Saint Joe’s
Freshman point guard records career high in assists.
Elliott and Sharika Rosado watched the Dayton Flyers play Saint Joseph’s from the second level at Hagan Arena on Saturday. They made the drive from Bronx, N.Y., to see their son Malachi Smith play, and he rewarded them with one of his best performances of the season.
In Dayton’s 74-62 victory, Smith had 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. He fell four assists short of a feat that has eluded everyone from Don May to Roosevelt Chapman to Obi Toppin — a triple-double. No Flyer has ever recorded a triple-double. “He’ll get there,” Elliott said. This was Smith’s highest points total since he scored 16 against Mississippi in December. He scored in single digits in the last six games. He made 2 of 2 3-pointers,
and it was the first time he made multiple 3-pointers in a game this season.
“It definitely made me feel good throughout the game,” Smith said.
Smith reached double figures in rebounds for the first time.
“When you take as many 3s as they do, you’re going to have long rebounds,” Dayton coach
Anthony Grant said. “We’ve been a pretty good defensive team all year. We’ve been a pretty good rebounding team. Today, it was going to be different guys. We had some of our better rebounders chasing the perimeter guys, so there were rebounds, and it’s great to see him getting them.”
Record update: DaRon Holmes II blocked four shots against Saint Joseph’s. His single-season school record now stands at 66.
Around the A-10: Virginia Commonwealth (18-7, 11-3) won its fifth straight game Friday, beating Richmond 77-57 at the Siegel Center in Richmond, Va. The Spiders (17-10, 8-6) were picked to finish second in the preseason poll but slipped to sixth place.
Davidson (22-4., 12-2) stayed atop the A-10 with a 79-58 victory at home Saturday against Saint Louis (18-9, 9-5). Hyunjung Lee scored 29 points.
Looking ahead: Dayton plays Massachusetts (12-13, 5-8) at 7 p.m. Wednesday at UD Arena. The Minutemen beat visiting La Salle 80-74 on Saturday.