BY PAUL GOTHAM
BROOKLYN — Jordan Sibert found himself in familiar territory with the ball in the open court going for a layup.
Then the Dayton senior did something unfamiliar…to UD fans.
As Sibert took his last step before finishing at the rim, he avoided contact. He leaned his shoulders toward the sideline and away from the basket. St. Bonaventure’s Andell Cumberbatch stepped in and swatted away the attempt. The ball bounced out of bounds, and the horn sounded, for the game’s first official timeout. One needed not a formal education in lip reading to comprehend Dayton coach Archie Miller‘s displeasure.
But with the game on the line, Sibert delivered.
He scored seven of his 19 points in the game’s final 1:39 as Dayton edged St. Bonaventure, 75-71 in the quarter-finals of the Atlantic 10 Championship.
He also returned the favor contesting a shot and corralling a defensive rebound.
With the Bonnies leading by one inside two minutes, Cumberbatch drove the lane for an apparent bucket when Sibert greeted him. Rather than going for the block or taking a needless foul, the senior defended straight up and had the presence of mind to recover in time for the rebound.
Sibert completed the sequence with a dagger at the other end.
“It was just a shot that I shoot all the time,” Sibert stated. “My coaches always tell me, ‘if you’re open, shoot the shot.'”
The Cincinnati native took an inside out pass from teammate Kendall Pollard and drilled his second trey of the game. In a game which saw 15 lead changes and 10 ties, Sibert’s catch-and-shoot three with 1:09 remaining gave the Flyers a lead they never surrendered.
“I don’t really know exactly what the play was that we called, but I know Kendall, he had a great drive through the lane and he kind of went in the air and I was just trying to get to an open area.
“My teammates believe in me. So when I had that opportunity, it was a normal shot, and it was great to have my team uplifted by it.”
Sibert sealed the victory at the free throw line.
Clinging to a two-point edge he scooped up an errant pass and this time finished the layup. Moments later, he converted two of four free throws – the second with a dozen ticks remaining on the clock.
“Just looking at my teammates, just telling me, you know, just shoot the shot, telling me that we need them,” Sibert said when asked about his mindset during the closing moments. “My teammates and my coaches just giving me the confidence to go out there and shoot and embrace the moment and step up to make shots.”
It was the 24th time in the last 27 games in which Sibert (16.7 ppg) tallied double figures.
The No. 2-seed Flyers (24-7/13-5) move on to play No. 3-seed Rhode Island (22-8/13-5), Saturday. Dayton took the regular season meeting between the two teams, 75-59. It will be Dayton’s sixth appearance in the A-10 semifinals and first since 2011.
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