Dayton’s resume takes big early hit with loss to UMass Lowell

Cold shooting in first half, poor execution at the end dooms Flyers

UMass Lowell stunned the Dayton Flyers on Saturday, winning 59-58 in the second game of the season at UD Arena in front of a sold-out crowd of 13,407.

The Flyers trailed for most of the game but took a one-point lead on back-to-back 3-pointers by Elijah Weaver with 2:01 and 1:17 to play.

Lowell then missed a 3-pointer, but Allin Blunt grabbed the offensive rebound and earned a foul call against Dayton’s Toumani Camara. The official ruled Camara pushed him out of bounds while going for the ball. Blunt made both free throws to give Lowell a 59-58 lead.

On the ensuing possession, Weaver drove the baseline and stepped out of bounds. Lowell then missed a one-and-one, but Weaver missed a 3-pointer with 5 seconds to play. The ball went out of bounds to Dayton, but the Flyers only got off a rushed attempt by Weaver after an in-bounds play with 4.8 seconds to go.

Dayton (1-1) suffered one of its worst losses of the Anthony Grant era. Lowell (2-0) ranked 274th in the Ken Pomeroy ratings.

The Flyers shot 39.1 percent from the field and 30.4 percent from 3-point range. They committed 15 turnovers, while Lowell had eight.

DaRon Holmes II led Dayton with 13 points. R.J. Blakney had 12. Justin Faison scored 21 for Lowell and made two key 3-pointers late in the game.

Dayton faced a deficit of as many as 11 points in the second half and trailed 28-21 at halftime. In the first half, Dayton shot 24 percent (6 of 25) from the field, making 4 of 12 3-pointers and 2 of 13 shots inside the arc.

WEDNESDAY’S GAME

Lipscomb at Dayton, 7 p.m., Spectrum News 1, 1290, 95.7

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