“Let’s face it, we’ve got some hurdles to overcome here,” MU coach John Cooper said. “We’re not throwing guys out there that are 1,000-point scorers.
“We’ve got to continue to get better as a group, and certainly the schedule has been tough. It hasn’t played into our favor to even give us an opportunity to get a break. But that’s part of it. You’ve got to play the games, and you’ve got to get better.”
Will Felder scored 18 points, Jon Harris tallied 16 and Reggie Johnson added 9 for Miami (3-5), which allowed the Flyers (7-2) to shoot 58.6 percent from the floor in the second half (52.5 percent overall).
The RedHawks continued to struggle on the glass. After losing the battle of the boards 38-13 at Evansville on Wednesday, they couldn’t stop UD from forging a 45-22 advantage.
“We’ve got to be much tougher,” Cooper said. “Certainly we’re not the biggest team in America, but it comes down to having the fighting desire inside that I’m going to get my man off. I can’t tell you how many times it happened on the free-throw line. Whether it was eight, nine, 10 times, that’s unacceptable.”
It was a 33-33 contest late in the first half, but Dayton converted two layups heading into the locker room, then gradually pulled away from there.
“Coming out at halftime, we had to try to make a push,” Felder said. “Then when we tried to make that push, we had a couple minor mishaps. I know I missed an open layup, then we had couple mishaps on defense. That didn’t allow us to get over the hump.”
The Flyers’ balanced scoring attack put five players in double digits: Devin Oliver (15), Kevin Dillard (15), Vee Sanford (14), Josh Benson (13) and Dyshawn Pierre (12).
Harris hit four 3-pointers for MU, which shot 41.8 percent from the field, and he grabbed five rebounds. Benson (12) and Oliver (10) equaled Miami’s board effort by themselves.
“The level of play and the feistiness, I thought we had that in the first half,” Cooper said. “We were ready to play. But I thought their ability and their talent level took over as the game wore on. In the second half, they drove us and were able to get into the paint and cause havoc.”
Said Dayton coach Archie Miller, “I really believe Miami played as hard as they possibly could. Those guys were confident. They gave us everything we wanted and more.”
The RedHawks will finish their four-game road swing against Wright State on Dec. 19.
About the Author