Dayton Flyers guard Charles Cooke day to day with wrist injury

Charles Cooke watched the Dayton Flyers beat Virginia Military Institute 92-56 from the bench Friday at UD Arena. He wore the sharp new workout sweatshirt and pants the team received earlier this month. On his right wrist, he wore a protective black glove.

Cooke missed the game with a wrist injury. It didn’t matter this time. Dayton didn’t need its leading scorer to beat a team ranked 343rd out of 351 in the RPI. They will need Cooke when they open Atlantic 10 Conference play against La Salle at 7 p.m. Dec. 30 at UD Arena. That will be the first of 18 straight conference games for the Flyers.

“Charles has a wrist injury he got in the game against Vanderbilt at some point in the first half,” Dayton coach Archie Miller said. “X-rays and MRI were both done. They were both negative. He’ll be day to day. Hopefully he can get some recovery over the break, and we’ll see where it goes. We’re used to playing without guys at this point. When he’s back, he’s back.”

Career games: Sophomore forward Sam Miller led the Flyers with a career-high 15 points. He made 6 of 8 shots from the field and two 3-pointers. His previous career high was 11 points against Nebraska.

Sophomore guard John Crosby also hit his career high with 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting.

Strong shooting: Junior guard Darrell Davis followed his eight-point performance against Vanderbilt on Wednesday with 11 points. He made his first two 3-point attempts in the first five minutes and finished 3 of 6 from 3-point range.

Credit: David Jablonski - Staff Writer

Credit: David Jablonski - Staff Writer

Credit: David Jablonski - Staff Writer

Credit: David Jablonski - Staff Writer

Family support: Ohio State Buckeyes defensive tackle Robert Landers sat in the stands near UD's pep band with his family and watched his brother, freshman guard Trey Landers, hit his first career 3-pointer in the final minutes.

Trey had four points and three rebounds in eight minutes. This was his fifth appearance of the season and his first since the 91-59 victory over Saint Joseph’s College on Dec. 6.

Robert leaves for the Fiesta Bowl with the Buckeyes on Monday. They play Clemson in the College Football Playoffs semifinals Dec. 31.

Next game: La Salle finished its non-conference schedule at 6-4. It beat Mercer 98-96 in triple overtime Thursday.

La Salle ranks 81st in the RPI. It ranks second in the conference in scoring (84.2 points per game) and field-goal percentage (47.7) but last in points allowed (83.2) and field-goal percentage defense (48.3).

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