Northwestern basketball squanders lead, falls to Dayton 71-66
Nate Santos and Robert Morris transfer Enoch Cheeks each scored 16 points and Dayton took control of the game's tempo in the second half to come from eight points down to beat Northwestern 71-66 on Saturday night.
Dayton snapped a three-game losing string to the Wildcats and evened the all-time series at 3-3.
Northwestern (1-1) controlled the tempo of the game in the first half, leading by 13 points after Nick Martinelli's dunk with 4:23 left and held a 32-24 advantage at the break.
Dayton got within a point at 51-50 after Javon Bennett knocked down a 3-pointer and Malachi Smith converted at the basket with 8:13 left. After K.J. Windham hit the second of two free throws, Smith knocked down a pair from the line to tie the game and Cheeks dunked with 7:22 left to give Dayton the lead, 54-52. Cheeks hit a 3 with just under two minutes to play to push the lead to eight points and Zed Key's dunk made it a 10-point lead with 1:07 left.
Smith finished with 14 points and six assists for the Flyers. Dayton (2-0) converted 24 of 46 shots from the floor (52.2%) and was 8 of 21 from beyond the arc.
Martinelli was one point shy of his career best with 26 points against Lehigh in Monday's season opener and set a new mark with 32 against the Flyers. He also grabbed 14 rebounds for his third career double-double and second straight to open the season. Angelo Ciaravino scored 12 points off the bench. The Wildcats were 25-of-56 shooting from the field and 5 of 20 from 3-point range.
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