By PAUL GOTHAM
DAYTON, OH — In a game that felt eerily similar to last year’s St. Bonaventure at Dayton contest, the Flyers came from behind and this time held on to beat St. Bonaventure, 76-72.
Scoochie Smith scored 19 points, and Dayton (21-5/12-2 Atlantic 10) won its sixth straight and ninth out of its last 10 games.
Like last year this game was about Bona’s Jaylen Adams. The junior point guard, who torched UD for 31 points a year ago in a 79-72 Bona victory at UD Arena, poured in 35 Saturday afternoon.
“If he’s not the most unsung point guard in college basketball, I’m not sure who is,” Dayton coach Archie Miller said. “We’ve play against a lot of guys over the years, and I’m not sure there’s one tougher to deal with than him.”
Adams finished the day eight of 14 from the floor including four of seven behind the arc and 15 of 17 from the free throw line. He scored 12 points in the final 1:12 of the game including a pair of deep three balls.
“We’ve played him I don’t know how many times now. Every game kinda feels the same when he’s in there,” Miller added. “It’s like the game’s never over. It doesn’t matter what the score is or how much time there is, it’s never over.”
Adams scored 14 of his 16 first-half points in the first 13 minutes of the game before Dayton put 6-foot-5 Charles Cooke on the 6-foot-2 junior.
“Charles changed the game in the first half,” Miller noted. “It’s probably a little bit unsung. We flipped him over to him. His size, his quickness kept him from getting really rolling.”
Cooke and Dayton limited Adams to just two field goals and four points over the next 15 minutes. It wasn’t until a spectacular reverse layup, which took every ounce of athleticism and skill Adams possesses, at the 12:15 mark of the second half that he scored again.
“More than anything, it’s the angles,” Cooke explained. “He gets you in all kinds of angles. You got to jump screens. It can be tricky.
“You got to follow your instincts. You don’t know what the offensive players are going to do. He can really handle the ball and shoot. You just got to try and play the best defense you can.”
The layup gave Bona its last lead of the game at 43-42. He hit an off-balance step back three over Cooke with :36 remaining to cut the deficit to three at 68-65. His 40-footer from center-logo extended with three seconds to go made it a 74-72 game.
“I think we did a good job out there despite him having 30-plus or whatever he had,” Cooke stated.
Solving the Zone
Bona’s zone limited Dayton to 8-of-24 shooting over the first 20 minutes to take a 34-28 lead into the locker room.
“Their zone takes a couple different shapes,” Miller said. “We started to ball screen a little bit more and put shooters in different corners.”
Dayton shot 13 of 24 in the second half and outscored the Bonnies 48-38.
“We were finally able to get some stops and get in transition,” Miller said. “I think Charles going on to Adams in the first half containing him a little bit was good. We were able to I thought get our offense going a little bit just because we got some easy baskets.”
“Just trying to get the ball into the paint, get spray and kick outs,” Cooke added. “Definitely more penetration. Any time you get into the middle of a zone, you break it down. That was the key.”
Breaking Down the Numbers
Dayton outscored Bona in the paint (30-26), on points off turnovers (14-12) and in fast-break points (10-8). Dayton’s bench got the better of their counterparts,12-11. Bona outscored UD on second-chance points, 4-3.
Bona outrebounded Dayton, 33-31. The Flyers outscored Bona at the free throw line 28-21. UD shot 28 of 39. Bona, 21-27. The Bonnies hit seven of 17 from behind the arc. Dayton 6-14.
Bona’s Matt Mobley finished with 14 points on 4-of-11 shooting.
Cooke scored 13 on 5-of-9 shooting. Kendall Pollard added 16.
Implications
Dayton stays in a first-place tie with VCU. St. Bonaventure (16-10/8-6) falls into a fifth-place tie with George Mason.
Up Next
Dayton hosts George Mason Tuesday night. Bona plays at Saint Joseph’s on Wednesday.
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