Comeback Falls Short in 76-72 Loss at Loyola

The Dayton Flyers traveled to the Windy City on Friday evening in the return game of a two-game conference series against the Loyola Ramblers. In a pivotal matchup pairing teams tied for third place in the A10 standings, UD erased most -- but not all -- of a second half double-digit deficit and lost vital ground in a 76-72 defeat.  Dayton falls to 18-9 (8-6) while the Ramblers improve to 18-9 (9-5).
Dayton beat Loyola 83-81 on Jan 18th when Amael L'Etang finished a half-court alley-oop pass at the buzzer for the dramatic overtime victory at UD Arena.  The Flyers came into tonight's contest with a 36-16 lifetime advantage in the series dating back to 1928.  UD was 3-1 vs. LUC since the teams re-connected as league members in the A10, rekindling a rivalry from the MCC days of the late 1980's and early 1990's.
Nate Santos opened the game with running floater, followed by a pair of Enoch Cheeks free throws to put UD up 4-0. An issue with the net forced a stoppage in play to remedy the problem, and Loyola answered with four straight points out of the delay to tie the game at 4-4. The teams traded baskets to the under-16 media timeout but Loyola opened up a 11-8 advantage by the under-12 timeout as Dayton's offense had trouble protecting the basketball and getting good looks at the rim. Javon Bennett answered with a triple to cut the deficit to 15-13 with 10:33 remaining in the half. Jacob Conner later tied it with a long deuce from the corner to beat the shot clock.  A Bennett kis...