McCoy: UD survives ‘Marquette hangover’

Nate Santos scores against a UNLV defender in Tuesday’s thriller at the Arena. (Press pros show photos by Julie McMaken Wright)

The University of Dayton basketball team had just three days left Tuesday to recover from the emotional high and physical exertion it had left with its victory over Marquette No. 1 to beat UNLV 66-65.

Dayton, OH – As expected and expected, the University of Dayton basketball team faced “The Marquette Hangover” on Tuesday night at UD Arena.

Hall of Famer Hal McCoy writes UD Flyers basketball exclusively for Press Pros Magazine.com.

After the emotional challenge and physical exertion of beating No. 6 Marquette on Saturday — and just a three-day turnaround — a loss to unranked No. 5 and No. 4 University of Nevada Las Vegas was expected on Tuesday night.

But with great determination and a perseverance mentality, the Flyers survived – only because of the width of the laces on Malachi Smith’s sneakers.

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With eight seconds left and UD trailing by two points against a strong and resilient UNLV, little Smith looked for Nate Santos.

Covered.

He was looking for Zed Key.

Covered.

So he took matters into his own hands as he dribbled the basketball. He rushed towards the basket in the middle of the big guys. He showed the basketball to a defender and he hit it.

Smith gently put the ball in the basket to tie the game, and the slap drew a foul. Smith knocked down the free throw and the Flyers led 66-65.

Zed Key stares down a UNLV player during the Flyers’ last-minute comeback.

But it wasn’t over yet. . .still eight long, agonizing seconds for the Flyers. And UNLV got the shot it wanted — a 10-footer to the left of the basket from Declan Thomas Jr., UNLV’s best player.

The ball hit the side of the rim and the horn sounded, and never has a horn sounded so good and so timely for the Flyers and the Flyer Faithful.

For the 22nd-ranked Flyers, it was a gritty 66-65 record, their 25th straight home win and their 10th win this season against two losses.

“The emotions that were there on Saturday quickly turned around and have to fight like that tonight, a hand-to-hand fight so to speak,” UD coach Anthony Grant said.

“I’m proud of the boys for persevering and finding a way to get a win.”

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Nate Santo provided a player’s perspective on what it means to quickly come back from an emotional high when he said: “I think so. . .yeah, it was hard to come back because it (Marquette) was such a big game. It was definitely a little difficult.”

UD trailed 62-58 with 1:25 to play and a fan in the student section grumbled, “We’re in trouble.”

Amael L’Etang ends a performance with a thunderous slam dunk.

Not this dark group.

Nate Santos hadn’t made a three-pointer all night, but had the courage and wherewithal to bury a three-pointer and cut the lead to 62-61.

UNLV missed a shot and Smith rushed to the floor for a quickie lay-in and the Flyers led 63-62 with 37 seconds left.

It appeared UNLV needed more than 10 seconds to cross the finish line against UD’s press, but it wasn’t called. And just as the shot clock began to whine, Julian Rishwain hit a three-pointer from mid-court to give the Runnin’ Rebels a 65-63 lead with 23 seconds left.

Rishwain scored 21 points and made five three-pointers in UNLV’s last game against Pacific. But on Tuesday, he went scoreless in the first half before hitting three big 3-pointers in the final minutes.

But Malachi Smith saved the Flyers, both with his game-winning free throw and his game-winning basket, because free throws were giving him trouble.

Before the game winner, he was 0 for 2 from the line on the night and was just 61% from the foul line entering the game.

Of the final play, Smith said: “I had to do a play and I didn’t want to think about it too much. If I had guys open, I would have thrown to them. I just assumed the best shot for my team was to attack and try to commit a foul.”

Javon Bennett survives a push from UNLV’s Jalen Hill.

And Smith executed it as if the Xs and O’s were drawn on the Blackburn Court floor.

And then the free throw?

“I was a little nervous,” he said. “To be honest, I had to make sure I got it done. To relax, I took a short walk toward midfield because I had previously missed two shots and was struggling with my free throws. I did it and we got the dub (w, as in victory).”

Grant said putting the ball in Smith’s hands when it comes to what to do or not do is like putting multiple stacks of $100 bills in a Brink’s truck. . .it is safe and healthy.

“We wanted a few options,” he said. “Nate Santos first, to see if we can free him. They gave Nate a good lift. The next option was to bring Mali into the middle of the floor.

“They did a good job, but Mali did a great job,” Grant added. “He had a guy on his hip, got to the rim, made contact with great concentration and presence to finish the game. “And then the big free throw.”

Enoch Cheeks scored just six points but grabbed ten rebounds.

Cut it out and print it out. It was perfection.

“Malachi has done this for us since he stepped on campus,” Grant said. “We wanted to put the ball in his hands to put him in a position to make a play for himself or one of his teammates. Look at the last play, but throughout the game and throughout the season, he showed what he showed tonight.”

It was no offensive dandy for the Flyers – 24 for 51 shooting (47.1%) and 5 for 21 from three (23.8%). Smith scored 11 points with five assists, Santos scored 14 and Zed Key added 13. Enoch Cheeks only scored six points but grabbed ten rebounds.

For most of the game, the Flyers looked like they were listening to Jackson Browne’s “Running On Empty.”

Posh Alexander hits a jumper for one of his three field goals.

And after Marquette they probably were, which made Grant doubly proud.

“If we want to have the season we think is possible, we have to win games like this. They look at those as some of the braver victories,” Grant said.

“Everyone wants to talk about it when you play in the ranked teams, but these types of games make you who you are,” he added. “The hallmark of a good team, and these guys have shown that all year, is resilience. It’s a level of toughness and they continue to stay in the fight. When they get hit, they might falter for a minute, but they bounce right back up, get right back into the fight, and they did that the whole game today.”

And the turnaround for the next game is short and comes with a big challenge. On Friday night, the Flyers will travel by bus to Cincinnati to play the 19th-ranked 8-on-1 University of Cincinnati Bearcats.

Malachi Smith followed up the Marquette win with another exciting performance against the Runnin’ Rebels.

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