Arch: Even in loss, Flyers were winners

Kendall Pollard had it almost right.

After he and his Dayton Flyers had been overpowered in their Elite Eight game by a bigger, stronger, senior-laden Florida team, 62-52, Saturday night – their dream of a trip to the Final Four now evaporated – they walked slowly off the FedEx Forum court as thousands of Flyer Faithful stood and cheered them.

Senior Devin Oliver, who had played his heart out in his final game in a Flyer uniform — hitting four three pointers , pulling down six rebounds, blocking two Gator shots and adding a steal – had been unable to lift himself off the bench afterward. He was in tears and had pulled his jersey up over his face.

Finally, teammates Dyshawn Pierre and Jordan Sibert helped him up for the walk out off the floor as the Florida players began their celebration.

Other Flyers players fought tears and all trudged in silence. Finally, big Matt Kavanaugh, the red-shirt senior who had also played his last UD game, looked up at the crowd and gave a one-handed wave of thanks.

“I just wanted to show appreciation,” he would say later. “I know it’s a long drive from Dayton to Memphis and I don’t know how many fans we had tonight. We must have had 10,000. It felt like UD Arena. I just wanted to show them that it meant something to all of us.”

Soon the last of the Flyers exited the NCAA Tournament stage and disappeared into the locker room.

A few minutes later I found Pollard – the 6-foot-6 freshman who had played so well in the win over Stanford two nights earlier — sitting quietly in a corner of the Flyers quarters.

I asked him why not only the Flyer Faithful, but so many people around the country, had fallen in love with this team.

“We were winners,” he said in a voice that was almost a whisper. “People like a team when it wins.”

That’s true and the Flyers did win 13 of their last 16 games, but they were just as embraced Saturday night when they were held to their lowest point output of the season and lost.

Part of it had to do with the way they had battled the 36-2 Gators, the No. 1 seed in the entire NCAA Tournament and a team that has now won 30 straight games.

With less than four minutes left in the first half, the game was tied 23-23. Then Florida closed out the half on a 15-1 run.

The Gators expanded their lead to 17 points midway through the second half and then the Flyers – thanks to the gritty play of Pierre – surged back to cut the lead to eight with just under four minutes left.

Dayton stopped the Gators on their next three possessions, but weren’t able to capitalize on their end and Florida went on to win by 10.

“Dyshawn was terrific, “UD coach Archie Miller said of his sophomore forward who finished with 18 points, five assists three rebounds and two steals. “In our darkest, sort of gloomiest period out there … he gave us a fighting chance.”

Kavanaugh said that’s what people loved about the Flyers:

“They liked the way we played together. How hard we played. How, when our backs were to the wall, we didn’t quit, whether it was 18 down to Duquesne or 10 to Saint Louis or tonight. We just kept fighting the best we could.”

That’s why sophomore big man Devon Scott, spilling tears himself afterward, put it like this: “If I had to lose this game, I wouldn’t want it to be with any other team in America.”

Sitting next to him, Vee Sanford – also having played his last game as a Flyer – tried to sum up what he and his teammates had done in this 26-11 season, which had culminated with an unexpected tournament run through Ohio State, Syracuse and Stanford and the Flyers first trip to the Elite Eight in 30 years:

“People could tell we had chemistry as a team. They could see it in the way we played and looked out for each other. I’m proud of my teammates. I feel like we left a legacy and the only way the program can go now is up.”

Junior Guard Jordan Sibert, who was held scoreless for the first time all season, was perfect in his aim afterward:

“I think people liked us because we won the right way. We didn’t showboat. We weren’t supposed to be here. That game we were just in – that wasn’t supposed to be us. But all season and all through the tournament we fought and kept playing together.

“That’s what people wanted to see. They saw an actual team and they appreciate that more than just a one-on-one show. That’s why we got those shirts for tonight. They said ‘True Team’ and that’s what we were.”

And because of that they were just what Kendall Pollard had said.

They were winners … even on a night when they were hurting from a loss.

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