Dayton Flyers avoid upset against short-handed St. Joseph’s

Pollard stars with 19 points, and UD makes 15 of 18 free throws

The Hawk will never die, but he flew out of Dayton on Tuesday with a wounded wing.

The Dayton Flyers recorded a rare victory over St. Joseph’s, which by coach Archie Miller’s own admission has owned UD in recent years, and it was every bit as difficult as most games between the two Atlantic 10 rivals.

Playing without two sick starters, the Hawks trimmed a 14-point deficit to three points in the final minutes only to see the Flyers take over down the stretch and win 77-70 at UD Arena. Dayton (18-5, 9-2) moved into first place all by itself, a half game ahead of idle Virginia Commonwealth (18-5, 8-2).

“It was a phenomenal game, a phenomenal effort by St. Joseph’s, coming in here short-handed,” Dayton coach Archie Miller said.

Kendall Pollard led the Flyers with 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting. He converted three 3-point plays and made 7 of 9 free throws. He and his fellow seniors moved within one victory of tying the UD record for victories by a class. This was win No. 96. The 2011 senior class won 97 games.

“It would mean a lot,” Pollard said. “We would like to leave our legacy with his program.”

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PHOTOS: Dayton vs. St. Joe’s

The seniors are 96-33. This was their second victory in four seaosns against the Hawks (10-13, 3-8), who suffered their third straight loss.

St. Joseph’s played as well as it could have played without James Demery and Chris Clover, who didn’t travel to Dayton because of illnesses. Lamarr Kimble scored 25 points and had 10 assists. Miller called him one of the most improved players in the conference. Charlie Brown scored 17.

Kimble hit a long 3-pointer at the end of the first half to tie the game at 32-32. Dayton took control in the second half and led by as many as 14 points, 60-46, with 8:38 to go.

Even that wasn’t enough. A 17-6 run by the Hawks brought them back into the game. Kimble’s 3-pointer with 3:27 left cut Dayton’s lead to 66-63.

“We had some opportunities with three-possession leads where we needed a stop,” Miller said. “We either didn’t get the rebound, or we fouled. A lot of the fouls were a credit to Kimble in terms of his ability to create contact with his dribble, and he just about made every free throw.”

At that point, Dayton point guard Scoochie Smith made three big plays. He assisted Xeyrius Williams on a layup. He hit a 3-pointer. Two possessions later, Smith scored on a layup to give Dayton a 75-67 lead.

Dayton made its free throws down the stretch and throughout the game (15 of 18, 83.3 percent). Otherwise, the final minutes would have been even more tense. Dayton has shot better than 80 percent at the foul line in four of the last six games.

Charles Cooke scored 16 points for Dayton. Smith finished with 13 points and eight assists. Williams had 11. Kyle Davis had a team-best eight rebounds.

Darrell Davis made 3 of 7 3-pointers. He has made three 3-pointers in three straight games.

“I thought we did a nice job in the second half of getting better shots at the rim, better two-point opportunities and also making free throws,” Miller said.


FRIDAY’S GAME

Dayton at Rhode Island, 7 p.m., ESPN2, FM 95.7, AM 1290 WHIO

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