Dayton coach Archie Miller yelled, “Move! Move! Move,” and then stomped one foot on the court at UD Arena. He shouted, “Swing it!” Then he threw his arms up in the air.

Miller let his frustration show at that moment early in Dayton’s 77-58 victory over Findlay in the first exhibition game of the season Saturday, but all in all — considering the week that was with the dismissal from the team of senior center Matt Kavanaugh for violating the university’s code of conduct — this was a solid performance for the Flyers.

Freshman forward Jalen Robinson led all scorers with 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting, and Dayton led from start to finish, beating Findlay for the third straight season.

“I’m really proud of the kids,” Miller said. “It’s been a long week. We’ve dealt with a lot of injuries in these first three weeks. We had basically three freshmen and five returners practice all week and then come into this game. Five of them hadn’t played a game in this arena.”

Senior guard Kevin Dillard, junior guard Vee Sanford, senior center Josh Benson, junior forward Devin Oliver and Robinson started. The only other players to get significant playing time were freshman guard Khari Price, sophomore forward Matt Derenbecker and freshman forward Devon Scott.

Miller expects freshman forward Dyshawn Pierre to return this week from an ankle injury, and sophomore forward Alex Gavrilovic is recovering from mono.

All five starters played at least 25 minutes. Two played 30-plus minutes: Dillard and Sanford, who scored 13 points each and combined to shoot 9-of-15 from the field with 11 assists between them.

Benson had 11 points. Oliver and Scott each had 8. Dayton shot 49 percent from the field.

The Flyers led by 14 at halftime and stretched their lead to 28 in the first 4 minutes of the second half. Then Findlay went on a 16-2 to make it respectable.

“We got a little relaxed, and they made a little run,” Dillard said. “But I felt we responded and rebounded well.”

Dayton’s inside game was too much for Findlay. The Flyers outscored the Oilers 48-10 in the paint. That’s a good sign for Dayton considering they were playing their first game without one of their top big men, Kavanaugh.

Dillard described the loss of Kavanaugh as a “huge blow.”

“It was tough, but we bonded together,” he said. “We stayed strong for one another. That’s what we have to do this season to be successful. We’ll be OK.”

Miller was proud of how the team responded to the adversity, but expected it, too.

“That’s just how we operate around here,” he said. “People get hurt, people get sick — things like that. It’s next man up. There’s responsibility and accountability. You have to be ready every time your number’s called, and I don’t anticipate that ever being a problem for us.”