Arizona men’s basketball vs. Dayton final score: Wildcats hold off Flyers, advance to 2nd Sweet 16 in 3 years

SALT LAKE CITY—Arizona performed a few of its greatest and worst basketball in the identical sport on Saturday. Fortunately, there was extra of the previous, particularly down the stretch.

The second-seeded Wildcats led for the ultimate 37-plus minutes, although it tried actually arduous at instances to blow a 17-point edge within the center, in a 78-68 win over No. 7 Dayton within the second spherical of the NCAA Match on the Delta Heart.

The win advances the UA (27-8) to its second Candy 16 in three years underneath Tommy Lloyd. The Wildcats will play Thursday within the West Area semifinals in Los Angeles towards both No. 3 Baylor or No. 6 Clemson, who play Sunday in Memphis.

Arizona shot 52.8 p.c, together with 64 p.c within the 1^st half, and made 8 of 18 3-pointers whereas holding Dayton (25-8) to 29.2 p.c from outdoors. The Flyers got here in capturing 40.2 p.c from 3.

Caleb Love led the UA with 19 factors, 13 coming within the first 12 minutes, whereas Keshad Johnson and Pelle Larsson had 13 and Jaden Bradley added 12 off the bench. The Wildcats’ reserves outscored Dayton’s 23-2.

Dayton, which shot 40.7 p.c general, acquired 23 factors and 11 rebounds from former UA goal DaRon Holmes II.

Arizona led 40-33 at halftime after being up 17, as Dayton went into the locker room on a 10-0 run and scored 9 factors off 11 UA turnovers. Johnson hit a 3 to get the lead again to 10 earlier than the Flyers scored six in a row to get inside 43-39 with 15:07 left.

After capturing 64 p.c within the 1^st half, Arizona missed 6 of seven to open the two^nd half.

A Koby Brea 3 minimize it to 52-49 with 11:42 remaining however the Wildcats shortly acquired the cushion again to at the least two scores. They acquired the lead again to double digits at 63-51 with 7:50 to go on a KJ Lewis drive off a Kylan Boswell steal after Larsson drained a 3 on the earlier possession.

A Bradley 3 made it 66-51 with 6:51 left when the identical form of sloppiness that dwindled the massive 1st-half lead popped up once more. That allowed Dayton to go on a 6-0 run and get inside 9.

The Wildcats additionally determined to sluggish issues down within the halfcourt, and that resulted in a Bradley drive and reverse and Larsson draining a fallaway jumper each with the shot clock winding down. Then Larsson drew an offensive foul on Holmes, which was upgraded to a flagrant, however the UA solely acquired a degree out of it as Larsson made 1 of two free throws and didn’t rating on the following possession.

A 3-point play by Holmes made it 71-62 with 2:13 left, and two extra free throws made it a 7-point sport with 55.1 seconds to go, however Boswell made two foul photographs after which Bradley stripped Holmes within the paint. Lewis then made two on the line, a part of an 8 for 8 efficiency within the closing 53 seconds.

Arizona went inside early and sometimes to start out, with its first 5 photographs (and three makes) coming within the paint. That opened issues up for Love to start out hitting from outdoors, his first 3 a part of a 12-2 run for a 17-8 lead that included him making a stepback lengthy 2.

The Flyers didn’t try their first 3 till the 12:26 mark of the 1^st half, with Brea airballing it, however Brea hit a pair over the following two minutes to get Dayton inside 20-14.

Two extra Love 3s and a pair of Oumar Ballo scores inside upped it to 30-16 with 7:37 left, and the lead swelled to 40-23 with 2:43 remaining earlier than halftime. However then Arizona acquired sloppy, with its passing, ball dealing with and footwork, turning it over 4 instances within the closing 2:06 to offer Dayton the gasoline to chop it to seven on the break.