Today’s game
Who: Dayton vs. Fairfield
What: Old Spice Classic
Where: HP Fieldhouse, Buena Vista, Fla.
When: 5 p.m. TV: ESPN2
Radio: WHIO-AM (1290), WHIO-FM (95.7)
BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Archie Miller winced like most of the 600 or so Dayton basketball fans at the Old Spice Classic on Thursday as Flyer flings from the outside hit iron, glass and air — everything but twine.
UD was 2-for-14 in the first half on 3-pointers, and the Flyers couldn’t find the target consistently in the second half, either, while teetering on the verge of defeat.
“We are a shooting team — that’s kind of who we are,” Miller, the first-year UD coach, said. “We have some guys who can shoot the ball in. They’re confident, and it showed at the right time.”
Paul Williams and Chris Johnson made a pair of crucial 3-pointers, helping the Flyers rally from a four-point deficit with 1:33 to go in an 80-76 victory over Wake Forest in the first round of the event.
Williams had 18 points and Johnson 12 for the Flyers, who will play in the semifinals against Fairfield at 5 p.m. today (ESPN2).
Before Williams’ corner trey with 1:20 to go, UD was 7-for-26 from the arc. After a defensive stop, Johnson, mired in a cold-shooting night, connected from almost the same spot for a 77-75 lead with 36 seconds left.
“We just got soft for whatever reason,” second-year Wake coach Jeff Bzdelik said. “We just got soft and didn’t close out all the way. We had our hands down.”
The Demon Deacons tried to give Travis McKie a shot at tying the game. But he lost the ball on a spin move, and UD made enough free throws to close out the victory.
Junior center Matt Kavanaugh, a 6-foot-10, 250-pound Centerville product, had his first career double-double, getting 15 points and 13 rebounds.
“We knew he’d be a handful just because of the makeup of our basketball team,” Bzdelik said, referring to a lack of bulk. “Early on, we tried to double-team him and didn’t rotate effectively, and he got easy baskets. We allowed him to get too deep. That hurt us.”
At one point during Dayton’s surge, Kavanaugh was waving to the mostly red-clad crowd to generate even more noise.
“It was a big game, the first game of the tournament, and there’s a lot of good competition. I was fired up from the get-go, and I know all the other guys were, too,” he said.
Asked the difference in his play this season, Kavanaugh said: “The coaches put a lot of confidence in me, and that makes me feel a lot more confident when I’m out there, getting in a groove. Tonight was a good example of that.”
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