Dayton finally solved the late-game puzzle, and after they did the Flyers cruised to an 87-67 victory the Siena Saints by beating them at their own game. Back to back three-pointers by Brooks Hall with under six minutes remaining helped Dayton build a 16pt lead to put away the mad bombers from Albany, NY. Tony Stanley scored a career-high 29pts while Nate Green had a career-best 18pts to go along with 11 rebounds. Brooks Hall chipped in 16 to help pace a balanced attack for the Flyers. Dayton improves to 9-4 while Siena drops to 7-5.

While Dayton’s late-game play turned out to be the highlight of the evening, the game started off like many home games have ended. The Saints nailed three treys in the opening five minutes to jump out to an 11-2 advantage, forcing Head Coach Oliver Purnell to use a timeout and remind his players of Siena’s uncanny propensity to shoot three-pointers without a conscience. Ironically, the Flyers got back in the game by scoring three points on three consecutive trips down the court — without sinking a three-pointer. Stanley and Green converted conventional three-point plays then Stanley converted three free throws after getting fouled on a shot behind the arc. As quickly as Dayton found themselves trailing, the Flyers were back in the game and playing better.

The home team caught up and passed Siena midway through the first half and opened a 20-16 advantage, eventually stretching things to 10pts before Siena closed the margin to four. With Stanley and his teammates making free throws however, Dayton stayed on top of things and rebuilt the lead it lost for a 44-34 halftime advantage — a very favorable score all things considered. In the first half, the Flyers drained 19 of 21 free throws to help themselves despite some shaky defense on the other end of the court.

With Stanley’s 18 first half points in the bag, Dayton looked for him early and often as the second half started. It was the defense however that ignited a Dayton run as two steals resulted in a thunderous Nate Green dunk (and travel) along with a pair of Brooks Hall free throws to open up a 14pt lead. Stanley stayed hot from the outside and buried a couple treys as the half progressed, but Siena’s Scott Knapp answered the bell on several trips down the court with a flurry of treys and finger rolls — all for a 6-2 guard who can’t jump and doesn’t possess lightning-quick speed. Knapp also made the Flyers pay at the charity stripe, adding to his gaudy free throw percentage by making all nine free throws to up his season clip to a humbling .967% (29-30).

Despite Knapp’s offense, Dayton never came seriously close to losing the lead because Green, Hall, and Stanley provided most of the Flyer offense when it was needed. Green was a monster all evening, grabbing man-sized rebounds and throwing down a pair of dunks that Daryl Dawkins would gladly endorse. Green clearly played his best ball of the season — at least since the Maui Invitational — and was a man among boys for most of the game.

With Dayton hanging on to a 8-10pt lead however against a dangerous club who is as three-point happy as any team in the country, the Flyers needed a couple defensive stops and offensive conversions to make things comfortable down the stretch, something UD hasn’t earned all year at the UD Arena. The answers came in the form of Brooks Hall who sank three three-pointers in the final minutes — the last of which tickled the twine from 26 feet as the shot clock ran down — to take a 10pt game and blow things open to a 16pt cushion with five minutes left. Siena saw the writing on the wall and never challenged after that point, while Dayton finished the game by stretching things to a 20pt cushion before it was all over — the largest of the ballgame.

Overall, the Flyers looked sharp in the second half and made plays when they needed to — well before it was finger-crossing time. The defensive effort in the first half lacked game preparation however because Siena’s lone offensive plans, namely to come out and hoist three-pointers, met with little resistance until the Flyers realized the Saints were a good shooting ballclub and not to be taken lightly. Dayton tightened things up in the second half and, though a few possessions still lacked motion that forced awkward shots as the shot clock ran down, the Flyers were able to penetrate in the lane and dish for baskets or fouls as the clock expired on other occasions rather than hoisting difficult treys fans grew aggravated over in prior games.

The Flyers shot 10-21 from three-point range, beating Siena at their own game. The Saints connected on just 7 of 21. Both teams were deadly from the charity stripe as the Flyers nailed 29-34 while Siena dropped in 16 of 18. Siena’s Knapp finished with a gritty 26pts, while Dwayne Archbold netted 17. David Morris finished with eight assists and just one turnover while Ramod Marshall struggled offensively, but played smart for much of the game and tried to do things that helped the team. He finished with five assists and two turnovers. Stanley’s 29pts were the result of a solid shooting and heady play, and fans saw him force the issue much less than in his prior outing against Marquette.