Sibert
and Oliver led four in double figures for Dayton, which stayed unbeaten
at 4-0. Georgia Tech was attempting to start 4-0 for the first time
since 2008-2009, but instead fell to 0-3 all-time against Dayton.
The
Atlantic 10 school grabbed its first lead at 31-30 on a lay up by
Oliver at the four-minute mark of the first half and didn’t trail the
rest of the way. After Oliver’s bucket, the Flyers extended the lead thanks to a 15-2, half-ending run that was aided by a sloppy Tech offense.
The
hosts had 19 turnovers, which led to 33 Dayton points - 12 of the
miscues leading to 21 points in the opening half. Dayton had five of its
17 steals over a four-minute stretch of the first and turned them into
five baskets.
Later,
Scoochie Smith had a pair of steals, which led to a lay up by Kyle
Davis and a 3-pointer from Sibert for three of Sibert’s 15 first-half
points (at the time already a career high for the redshirt-junior).
Sanford’s long ball capped a 13-0 spurt and gave Dayton a 37-30 cushion
on its way to a 39-32 advantage at the break.
“We
were able to start getting some steals in the open floor which gave us
some confidence,” said Dayton coach Archie Miller. “We had a lot of guys
make plays.”
“Key
stat in the game was the turnover situation. (It is) disappointing
because we’ve done a good job not only in practice but in some of the
games,” said Tech coach Brian Gregory. “Give (Dayton) credit, they
forced them.”
Trae
Golden had a rough first half in particular, contributing six of the
turnovers, but his two free throws with 1:45 to play ended a four and a
half minute scoring drought.
“(Golden)
didn’t play very well,” said Gregory. “That was a tough stretch,
especially because it occurred when we were up nine points.”
Dayton
did all this with leading scorer Dyshawn Pierre saddled with foul
trouble and only able to play six minutes in the opening half.
Dayton
built a 58-45 second-half lead on a Smith pass to Devon Scott for a
dunk. That forced a Tech time out and it helped get the Yellow Jackets
hang around as Travis Jorgensen’s lay up capped a quick 7-0 run that
made it a 58-52 game.
The Flyers didn’t flinch as Vee Sanford (15 points) and Sibert hit consecutive
3-pointers and Oliver had a steal and reverse lay up to push the lead
back out to 68-54 with 6:21 left to play.
Sanford and Scott, who scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half, helped Dayton’s bench out-score Tech’s 34-16.
“I
thought our bench came through (but) we talk about it, we’re just
looking for a group of finishers,” Miller said. “I don’t really care who
is in the game as long as they’re getting the job done. A lot of guys
stepped up and played tonight. We’re by-committee, we talk about it all
the time, true team, by-committee.”
Tech
jumped out to a lead immediately as Daniel Miller had a dunk and a lay
up and blocked two shots within the first minute and a half.
That
was part of a big night for Miller, who led the Yellow Jackets with 20
points on 7-of-9 shooting and added seven rebounds and three blocked
shots.
Marcus
Georges-Hunt knocked down a 3-pointer to make it 7-0 and force a quick
Dayton time out. Hunt kept it up, getting a put back and another
3-pointer off a feed from Chris Bolden, and Bolden nailed a long ball of
his own, though it was the only made basket in 10 attempts for the
sophomore guard, as the Yellow Jackets went up by as much as 22-13 with
11:36 to play.
“(Tech) hit us in the mouth kind of early, doing what they wanted to do,” Archie Miller said.
Though
Georges-Hunt scored 11 points during the first nine minutes of the
half, he was held scoreless for the final 11. The sophomore finished
with 16 points.
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