Dayton gets big games from both Elvis, Holmes, as they beat Troy

DAYTON — The Dayton Flyers got solid performances by both Kobe Elvis and DaRon Holmes II in an 82-70 victory over Troy Saturday afternoon at the UD Arena.

Elvis scored a career-high 24 points while Holmes had a double-double, 23 points and a career-high 17 rebounds. He also had a game-high four assists.

UD shot 53% from the floor as they improved to 7-2.

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The Trojans made four three-pointers to start as they led, 12-7. The Flyers went on an 8-0 run as Holmes’ dunk put them ahead, 15-12.

Troy responded by scoring five straight points to go up 17-15 but Koby Brea’s three-pointer reclaimed the lead for good, 20-17, with 11:52 left in the first half.

Elvis scored eight straight points, including a pair of treys, and Holmes added a pair of baskets to extend it to 32-22. Petras Padegimas buried to three which increased it to 35-22.

As the first half was coming to an end, Javon Bennett buried a three-pointer and blocked Marcus Rigsby Junior’s three-point attempt as the buzzer sounded as UD led, 45-31, at halftime.

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The Flyers pushed their lead to as much as 17 points to start the second half, but the Trojans got within 11 points, 52-41, with 14:39 remaining. Holmes’ dunk and Bennett’s trey expanded it to 57-41.

Troy kept fighting and got within as much as 10 points twice in the second half, including 69-59. But Dayton got a layup by Nate Santos and a dunk from Holmes to push it to 73-59.

Bennett added 11 points while Koby Brea had eight. Nate Santos scored seven points while Enoch Cheeks had six points and six rebounds.

Holmes also had five dunks to tie Obi Toppin’s school record.

Dayton will be off for seven days due to mid-term exams. Their next game will be Saturday, December 16, when they play Cincinnati at 7 p.m. at Heritage Bank Center.

It is part of the Hoops Classic presented by Altafiber and CareSource.

Pregame coverage on WHIO Radio begins at 6 p.m. The game will be carried here at WHIO.com.