By HAL McCOY
The young and inexperienced University of Dayton basketball team played like a young and inexperienced basketball team Sunday afternoon in the Charleston Classic.
In a season during which the Flyers will learn some valuable lessons, many of them painful, they learned a couple Sunday during a 75-67 loss to Old Dominion.
ONE: If a team tries to survive at the three-point line it behooves it to make a lot of them. They Flyers shot a lot of them Sunday, 33. They didn’t make enough, only 12.
And when they are casting away from the perimeter and not penetrating the middle, they don’t get fouled and don’t get to the foul line.
The Flyers shot only seven free throws and made five. Meanwhile, one Old Dominion player, Ahmad Caver, shot 10 free throws by himself and made seven — the same number the Flyers attempted while making five.
TWO: While senior Darrell Davis is expected to show the way for the young Flyers, they can’t expect him to carry the entire load. He tried Sunday, but the burden was too heavy.
He scored a career-high 27, his third straight game in the Charleston Classic of more than 20, but most of them came early and late with nothing in the middle when the Flyers struggled.
Davis hit two quick threes to open the game and give the Flyers a 6-2 early lead. And he made four of his first five shots for 10 points in the first nine minutes to give UD a 17-16 lead.
Then he missed his next five shots, nobody stepped up, and the Flyers fell 15 points behind, 35-22, with 3 ½ minutes left in the half. At one point, Old Dominion put on a 10-0 sprint that left the Flyers with hanging tongues.
The Flyers scored the last five points of the first half, including a three by Josh Cunningham at 0:02 to pull the Flyers within 10 at 39-29.
UD was unable to put a lid on 6-4 senior guard Randy Haynes in the first half. He had 19 first-half points, five over his career-high for an entire game. He came into the game shooting 25 per cent from the three-point line, but made three in the first half.
John Crosby hit a three to open the second half, drawing the Flyers to within seven at 39-32, hinting of a second half comeback.
It didn’t materialize.
The Flyers missed their next six shots, three of them from the three-point area and UD suddenly was in arrears by double digits again, 47-34, with 14 minutes left.
And Darrell Davis hadn’t scored since his quick 10 to start the game. Suddenly, he found the range again and scored on a layup and two threes and the Flyers crept within seven, 54-47, as UD hit six straight shots.
Then the threes quit falling again and Old Dominion put together a 10-2 burst to once again build a 15-point lead, 64-49, with six minutes left and the Flyers were kaput.
Trey Landers sat this one out with a sprained ankle and that gave the Greek Freak II, Kostas Antetokounmpo, his first collegiate start.
It was a minor Greek Tragedy. In 15 minutes he scored only two points (1 for 3) and grabbed only three rebounds.
Xeyrius Williams suffered with an icy shooting arm and was 1 for 7 — 1 for 6 from the three-point marker.
The Flyers took 54 shots and 33 came from the three-point line and that led to Old Dominion dominating the backboards. They outrebounded the Flyers 39-24 and snagged 14 offensive rebounds.
After scoring 19 in the first half, OD’s Haynes finished with 25 and he received 19-point help from Caver.
Darrell Davis reached his 27 with 7 of 14 from the three-point line and the only offensive help he received was 11 points off the bench furnished by freshman Jordan Davis and 13 from Josh Cunningham, who didn’t touch the ball enough to aid and abet the Davis tandem.
The Flyers were 1-and-2 in Charleston, losing the opener to Hofstra and beating Ohio University before losing to Old Dominion.
So the Flyers are 2-and-2 on the season and host the University of Akron Zips Saturday night in UD Arena.