Enoch Cheeks led the Dayton Flyers to an 85-67 victory over No. 2 UConn in the seventh-place matchup of the Maui Invitational, with an impressive contribution of 20 points on Wednesday evening.
The Flyers, improving their record to 6-2, also saw strong performances from Nate Santos, who added 18 points, Posh Alexander with 16, and Zed Key, who scored 15 points while also grabbing a team-high nine rebounds.
Cheeks showcased his shooting skills, going 8 for 12 from the field and sinking 3 of 5 from three-point range.
For the Huskies, Alex Karaban was the standout, scoring a total of 21 points, with 15 of those coming in the first half, where he successfully made four of the team’s eight three-pointers. Unfortunately for the Huskies, who fell to a 4-3 record after this tournament, they were unable to secure a win in any of their games during the event.
Liam McNeeley, who had impressed with a career-best 20 points in the previous contest against Colorado, had a frustrating outing against Dayton, failing to score and shooting 0 for 9.
Karaban’s three-pointer earlier in the half had given UConn a brief lead at 30-27 with just over four minutes remaining before halftime. However, Dayton responded by closing the half with a significant 15-4 run, entering halftime with a 41-34 advantage.
Key insights from the game revealed that UConn experienced all three of its losses at the Maui Invitational against unranked teams. They had lost their first two matches by a narrow margin of just three points combined, first to Memphis and then to Colorado.
Regarding Dayton’s performance, they excelled at the free-throw line, hitting 27 of 30 attempts, and boasted an impressive shooting percentage of over 47% from beyond the arc (8 of 17) while finishing 25 of 50 overall.
A pivotal moment in the game occurred when UConn trimmed Dayton’s lead to 52-49 on Solo Ball’s transition score with 11:20 left in the second half. However, Dayton managed to regain control quickly, thanks to Alexander’s three-point play, re-establishing a six-point margin with just over ten minutes remaining.
In terms of rebounding, Dayton held a significant edge, recording a plus-16 margin and a dominating 32-17 advantage on the defensive boards.
Looking ahead, UConn is scheduled to host Maryland Eastern Shore this coming Saturday, while Dayton will welcome Western Michigan for a matchup on Tuesday night.