Dayton falls on the road at Rhode Island

KINGSTON, RI — The Dayton Flyers went on the road and lost to the Rhode Island Rams, 75-70, Wednesday night at the Ryan Center in Kingston, Rhode Island.

DaRon Holmes II led UD with 19 points and Kobe Elvis scored 14, including making 4-5 three-point shots. Koby Brea added 11 points. R.J. Blakney missed the game due to injury.

Ishmael Leggett had 25 points while Brayon Freeman scored 21. The Rams outrebounded the Flyers, 32-26, and made 23-26 of free throws. URI is coached by former University of Dayton men’s basketball coach Archie Miller.

The Dayton Flyers fall to 13-8 overall, 5-3 in the Atlantic 10, and have lost three of their lost four games.

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Dayton jumped out to an early lead to start the game. Mike Sharavjamts scored seven points in the early going and Malachi’s Smith layup off a Zimi Nwokeji steal put UD ahead, 22-11, with 9:57 left in the first half.

The Rams came back as Brayon Freeman made two three-pointers to give them a 24-23 advantage. Ishmael Leggett scored five of his 11 points over the last nine minutes of the half as Rhode Island led, 32-27, at halftime.

URI opened the second half outscoring the Flyers, 11-3, to extend the lead to 43-30. Dayton got back in the game as Elvis and Holmes each made a trey to cut the deficit to 43-38. Holmes’ layup got UD within four, 44-40, with 12:13 remaining.

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Rhode Island got a pair of threes by Freeman as part of a 13-4 run to expand the lead to 57-44. Elvis buried a pair of three-pointers to cut the deficit to 65-59 with four minutes left.

Brea nailed a trey for the Flyers to get within five, 69-64, with 2:27 to go. His two free throws cut it to three, 71-68, with 50 seconds left. Freeman missed a layup with 21 seconds remaining but Leggett grabbed the offensive rebound, got fouled and made two free throws with 16 seconds left.

Smith’s layup with two seconds left cut it to 73-70 but Alex Tchikou made two foul shots with one seconds to seal the game.

Dayton will look to get back on the winning track Saturday afternoon when they host Richmond at the UD Arena.

Tip-off is at 4 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on WHIO Radio. You can also listen to the game online here at WHIO.com.

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