Dayton Flyers rally from double digits to beat No. 6 Marquette

DAYTON — The University of Dayton men’s basketball beat a Top 10 team for the second time this season.

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Dayton rallied from a 13-point deficit to beat No. 6 Marquette, 71-63, at the UD Arena Saturday night.

Javon Bennett and Zed Key each scored 15 points to lead the Flyers. Enoch Cheeks added 14 while Nate Santos had a double-double: 12 points, and 13 rebounds.

This is UD’s second win over a Top 10 opponent this year. They beat No. 2 UConn on Nov. 27 in Maui.

It is the Flyers’ first home win over a Top 10 team since 2007 when they beat Pitt on Dec. 29, 2007.

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UD trailed the Golden Eagles, 18-5, with 9:34 left in the first half. They cut it to 36-26 at halftime.

Javon Bennett made two second-half three-pointers to get the Flyers within three, 41-38, with 16:09 remaining.

Nate Santos’ trey got them closer, 48-47, with 10:25 left. Ben Gold’s three gave Marquette a 53-49 advantage. Malachi Smith’s layup cut it to 53-51. Bennett stole the inbound pass, and his layup tied the game at 53-53 with 7:43 to go.

Zed Key scored four straight points to give UD a 57-53 lead with 6:54 to play.

Santos scored five straight points, including two straight putbacks, to put the Flyers ahead, 67-63.

Enoch Cheeks and Smith sealed the game with layups.

Dayton improves 9-2 overall. Their next game will be Tuesday when they host UNLV at 7 p.m.

The game will be broadcast on WHIO Radio. It will also be carried here at WHIO.com.

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