Flyers Avoid Buzzer-Beater in 77-76 Win Over Dukes

The Dayton Flyers hosted Duquesne on Saturday afternoon looking to sweep the season series and string together consecutive victories after taking cares of business against Fordham on Wednesday evening in the Bronx.  Enoch Cheeks led the Flyers in scoring with 19 points while Zed Key added 18 points off the bench as UD survived 77-76 after the Dukes missed a shot at the buzzer to win the game.  The victory maintains third place in the A10 standings with five games left to play in the regular season.  Dayton improves to 18-8 (8-5) while the Dukes drop to 10-15 (5-7).
Dayton topped Duquesne 82-62 in Pittsburgh on Jan 21st for the first true road win of the season as the Flyers led 44-25 at halftime and stretched the lead to as many as 30pts before easing off the gas.  Enoch Cheeks led the way with a monster game consisting of 23pts, 4rbs, 4asts, and 4stls on 9-14 FG and 4-6 3PT.  UD came into Saturday's game winners of 12 of the last 14 in the series with both losses coming away from home. The last time the Dukes beat the Flyers at UD Arena was Feb. 1, 2012, in a 83-73 victory.
The Dukes started hot by opening up a 7-2 advantage after crashing the boards for a stick-back bucket and drilling a trey shortly thereafter. The Dukes hit three more bombs from long-distance over the next four minutes to lead 18-14 with 13:43 left in the first half. Malachi Smith and Enoch Cheeks did most of the UD scoring early on as Amael L'Etang was ineffective in the low post. The Dukes extended the lead to 35-23 with 6:27 remaining on another three-pointer; the Flyers had just four total rebounds at this point. Jacob Conner scored five straight points to slice into the deficit but Duquesne never relinquished the cushion for the rest of the half, building the advantage back to eight points with 2:19 left. The Flyers then hit six free throws and added a Key dunk to trim the margin to 44-40 at intermission -- quite fortunate considering how poorly UD played in the first 20 minutes.
The Flyers...