Dayton, OH – After being down by 22 early in the second half, the Wagner men's basketball team staged a 23-10 run over a near six-minute stretch to get within six points, but couldn't complete the comeback, falling 79-67 to the University of Dayton Flyers on Saturday afternoon in front of 12,878 enthusiastic college basketball fans.
With the loss, the Seahawks, who have dropped three straight, finish their out-of-conference schedule with an overall record of 7-4, while the Flyers improve to 6-6 on the season.
Sophomore guard
Blake Francis, who was held to just three points on 1-of-6 shooting in the first half, was a major catalyst for the Seahawks in their second half turnaround, netting 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting to finish the game with his sixth-career 20-point performance (fifth this season), ending with a game-high 24 points, one shy of his career-best.
In addition to Francis, redshirt junior forward
AJ Sumbry was also instrumental in the Green & White's comeback attempt, scoring 11 points in the second half en route to posting his second double-double of the season, concluding with 13 points and a game-high ten rebounds. Junior combo guard
Elijah Davis was the third Seahawk in double-figures, scoring ten points in 22 minutes off the bench.
Dayton also had three players finish in double-figures, led by Josh Cunningham's team-high 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field in 29 minutes of play. Darrell Davis ended up with 17 points, 14 of which coming in the first half alone. Trey Landers rounded out the double-digit performers, tallying 14 points, ten of which came from the free-throw line.
The Flyers held a 43-21 halftime lead but, when play resumed for the second half, the Seahawks came out on a mission. The visitors opened the scoring with back-to-back buckets as Sumbry was able to tip-in a missed jumper from Cooper. On the ensuing Seahawk possession, Francis was able to breeze past two Flyer defenders along the baseline as he finished with the left-handed reverse layup.
Dayton built a 61-39 lead with 10:22 showing on the game clock after Darrell Davis buried a three-pointer, his fourth of the contest. Over the next eleven minutes, the stingy Seahawk defense started to get stops and swung the momentum around, as Wagner outscored Dayton 33-24 over this stretch in cutting the deficit to just ten, 69-59, when Sumbry buried the mid-range jumper with 5:19 to go.
After Cunningham was able to connect on a jumper in the paint, bringing Dayton's lead back up to 12 at 71-59, Wagner rattled off six straight points, capped off by Francis, who was able to create space off the dribble and soar in the lane for two, cutting the lead to just 71-65.
Wagner had a chance to further trim the deficit following a missed shot by John Crosby after Sumbry came down with the rebound, but an ill-advised turnover gave possession back to the Flyers with 2:45 remaining.
Dayton had a good look from three as Jordan Davis misfired, but Landers was there to collect the offensive board and found Crosby, who was fouled by freshman
Nigel Jackson, who finished with six points and six rebounds in 26 minutes.
The Flyers made six free throws down the stretch and the game was sealed with a dunk by Cunningham as Dayton was able to escape with the victory on their home court.
The Seahawks took their only lead of the contest at the 17:07 mark of the first half, as Cooper drilled home a top-of-the-key three-pointer as the visitors led 5-4. From that point, the Flyers used a 16-0 run over a 3:42 stretch to increase its lead to 20-5 as D.Davis scored ten points during Dayton's spurt while Cunningham added the remaining six. The Green & White stopped the run at the 11:38 mark when Davis was able to rattle in the baby hook shot from the right block.
Dayton closed out the first-half scoring 23 of the final 36 points in taking a 43-21 advantage. The Flyers held Wagner to just 28.0 percent shooting in the opening frame while the Seahawks were only able to hit on 27.3 percent from beyond-the-arc. Dayton converted on 55.2 percent from the field while draining 42.9 percent from long range.
Elijah Davis led the way for the visitors in the half, scoring six points on 2-of-4 shooting in ten minutes of action. Cooper added three points, five rebounds and an assists in his 16 minutes of play. J.Davis paced Dayton with 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field while connecting on 3-of-4 from long range while grabbing a team-high six caroms in the opening stanza. Cunningham chipped in nine points in his 12 minutes of first-half action.
For the game, Wagner shot 38.3 percent from the field while holding a 37-28 edge on the boards. The Seahawks capitalized on their second chance opportunities, outscoring the Flyers by a 20-4 margin. Dayton, who shot 48.0 percent from the contest, netted 27 of its 79 points off fast break chances while going 22-of-26 from the charity stripe (84.6%).
The Green & White commence Northeast Conference (NEC) play on Friday, December 29 as they return to the Spiro Sports Center for a matchup with defending league champion Mount St. Mary's.
Friday's contest is #OperationPackSpiro, where the Seahawks look to remain undefeated at home and need the assistance of the entire borough of Staten Island. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. and will be streamed live on NEC Front Row (
www.necfrontrow.com) as Joey Wahler will have call.
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