Saint Joseph's and Dayton tip off on Tuesday night. (Photo: Aaron Bracy)
By AARON BRACY
February 6, 2024
Big5Hoops.com
PHILADELPHIA – The sold-out student section was rocking.
Hagan Arena was loud, exciting and so ready for an upset.
You’ve been here many times before. It just had the feeling of a St. Joe’s win.
DaRon Holmes II, Dayton’s NBA talent, told the Dayton Daily News that Hawks fans talk the most “smack” in the league. Those fans were primed to help their home team make a statement victory.
Brandon Graham was there to deliver the game ball to center court after going live on social media. The Eagles cheerleaders and Swoop were in the house.
It all was right there for St. Joe’s. The atmosphere was electric. It just felt like a Hawks win was coming.
And then it wasn’t. The crowd went silent. The Quad 1 opportunity was lost.
Final: No. 18 Dayton 94, St. Joe’s 79.
Nothing about the Hawks’ start predicted the outcome. Rasheer Fleming’s game-opening dunk raised the decibel level higher than you’ve heard in a long, long time.
Cameron Brown quickly helped raise it even higher, draining 3-pointer after 3-pointer until you looked up and he had 13 points to help the Hawks to an 11-point lead in a dominating 9 ½-minute opening stretch.
“We were terrific,” Hawks coach Billy Lange said.
Dayton couldn’t stop them. It was like the Hawks were on another level than their Top-25 opponent.
“We knew coming how dangerous they are in transition,” Flyers coach Anthony Grant said. “They got to the rim, they were getting open threes. Our guys had to adjust to how fast they were from an offensive standpoint. They’re really dangerous with the number of scorers and the speed and the skill they put on the floor.”
Then, slowly, but steadily, it all started to fade away.
First, Anthony Finkley was assessed a Flagrant 2 foul and ejected, resulting in a five-point Dayton possession. Lange, by the way, said the penalty was correct by the letter of the law but not by Finkley’s intent.
“He didn’t do it on purpose,” Lange said. “It’s a physical game. I understand by the rule why they make that call. But he’s not punching the kid, he’s not swinging, he’s not trying to hurt the guy, he’s being physical as a freshman in the game. I thought they didn’t need to make that call.”
The Hawks lost their lead before regaining their footing. They took a 38-34 lead into the half. The feeling here was that St. Joe’s had played its best basketball of the season for the first 10 minutes and led by just four.
But the Hawks still led. And then they didn’t.
There were missed shots. Seven of the first eight. There were miscues. Four turnovers. It was 52-41 Dayton. The shots still wouldn’t drop. The defense did. It was 57-44. Then 61-44.
Eventually, Dayton’s lead grew to as many as 19 points in a dominating 60-point second-half performance.
“The mistakes that we made in the second half on defense, you just can’t make those mistakes,” Lange said. “That part I’m upset about it.”
Offensively?
“One, you miss good shots,” Lange said. “Then, you stop moving the ball and everybody wants to try to make the next play. We have to grow up there. We have to be better there.”
There are statistics, numbers, field-goal percentages, individual totals. But it seems like none of those really matter. Don’t need any of that.
This one was pretty simple really: The Hawks were like two different teams.
They were as good as they’ve been all season in the opening 10 minutes of the first half. Then, they were as bad as they’ve been all season in the opening 10 minutes of the second half.
The sold-out student section wasn’t rocking.
Hagan Arena wasn’t loud or exciting.
Hawks fans had that upset feeling at the start.
In the end, they were just left with feeling upset.
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Aaron Bracy has been covering Philadelphia sports since 1996. His byline regularly appears on Associated Press stories. Big5Hoops.com is his second website dedicated to Philadelphia college basketball. Follow Bracy on X: @Aaron_Bracy and like his Facebook and Instagram pages.