Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

UMass downs Dayton in bounce-back win

Photo by Robert Rigo/Daily Collegian
Photo by Robert Rigo/Daily Collegian

Massachusetts head basketball coach Derek Kellogg doesn’t usually wear grey suits to games.

However, if he endures a few more hold-your-breath games like Thursday’s against Dayton, his hair color might be the next thing that goes grey in his arsenal.

The Minutemen held off a late Dayton comeback, securing their best win of the season in a 66-64 squeaker at the Mullins Center.

After UMass built a 60-50 lead (it’s largest of the game) with six minutes, 22 seconds remaining, the Flyers inched their way back, getting as close as two points with three seconds left before a last-second desperation Dayton heave was knocked away by UMass guard Jabarie Hinds as time expired.

Cady Lalanne led the charge early for the Minutemen, scoring 14 of his 18 points in the first half to go along with his seven rebounds. After struggling to front the post in the first 20 minutes, Dayton coach Archie Miller had his players double-team Lalanne for most of the second half whenever he got touches inside. He only attempted four shots in the second half.

“At halftime coach came over and told us what they were going to start doing so we were prepared for that and just look to pass it back to whoever is open,” Lalanne said.

Dayton didn’t have a player taller than 6-foot-6 and Kellogg said that it was a focal point to get Lalanne his looks inside early. UMass also went inside frequently to Maxie Esho, who finished with eight points and nine rebounds on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting.

And while it’s usually the trio of Hinds, Trey Davis, and Derrick Gordon who rack up the assists numbers, it was surprisingly Donte Clark who led the team with a career-high nine assists that orchestrated the Minutemen’s offense.

“I’ve seen it in practice and some in games,” Kellogg said on Clark’s passing abilities. “I’m just waiting for him to become really not a freshman anymore. Now he’s just a player on team. We had some things that we ran and the ball got in his hands quite a few times.”

The majority of Clark’s assists came on passes to Lalanne on the inside. But his loudest came on an alley-oop to Esho that gave the Minutemen a 50-45 lead with 12:43 remaining in the game, much to the delight of 5,633 in attendance.

Photo by Robert Rigo/Daily Collegiam
Photo by Robert Rigo/Daily Collegiam

Backup center Tyler Bergantino had a wide-open dunk on the following possession that got the fans equally as fired up.

“It was just about the eye contact and seeing each other,” Clark said on his pass to Esho. “If I threw it to the roof, Maxie would probably catch it.

Jordan Sibert led the Flyers with 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting, while Kendall Pollard chimed in with 12 of his own. Dayton led for a total of eight seconds during the game and its largest lead was just two points.

“It was great win for us against a very good Dayton team who’s proved on a national level how good they’ve been. In conference, we’ve always had a lot of respect for Archie (Miller) and his team,” Kellogg said.

“It’s hopefully the start of something good for us, he added. “If we play the game the right way and take care of the ball, share it and play hard, I think we can compete with a lot of the better teams in the conference.”

Davis’ injury not believed to be serious

In the final minute of the game Trey Davis (15 points) fell victim to a blind-side screen from Pollard that he did not see coming. Davis never saw Pollard as he ran back on defense with his head turned in the opposite direction.
Davis remained down on the court for over a minute before members of the UMass training staff helped him off the court and into the locker room.

After the game Kellogg said that Davis was fine and that he “just had his bell rocked”.

Andrew Cyr can be reached at [email protected], and can be followed on Twitter @Andrew_Cyr.

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