LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) – Cheeks of Enoch scored 20 points to lead Dayton to an 85-67 victory over No. 2 UConn in the seventh-place game of the Maui Invitational Wednesday night.
The Flyers (6-2) got 18 points from Nate Santos, 16 from Chic Alexander and 15 of Zed’s Keywho also led the team with nine rebounds.
Cheeks shot 8 of 12 from the field, including 3 of 5 from 3-point range.
Alex Karaban made four of his team’s eight 3-pointers and scored 15 of his team’s 21 points in the first half to lead the Huskies (4-3), who lost all three games they played in the tournament.
A day after scoring a career-high 20 points against Colorado, Liam McNeeley went scoreless on 0-of-9 shooting against the Flyers.
Karaban scored a 3-pointer that put UConn ahead 30-27 with 4:34 left before halftime, but Dayton closed the first half on a 15-4 run to take a lead 41-34 at halftime.
Takeaways
UConn: All three of the Huskies’ losses in Maui came against unranked teams. They lost their first two games – to Memphis on Monday and to Colorado on Tuesday – by a combined three points.
Dayton: The Flyers made 27 of 30 free throws and shot better than 47 percent from behind the arc (8 of 17). They went 25 of 50 from the field overall.
Key moment
UConn got within 52-49 on Solo Ball’s bucket in transition at the 11:20 mark of the second half, but Dayton found some separation with Alexander’s three-point play that brought it within a six-point lead with 10:34 to play. .
Key statistic
Dayton finished with a plus-16 rebounding margin, including a 32-17 advantage on the defensive glass.
To be continued
UConn hosts Maryland Eastern Shore on Saturday, while Dayton hosts Western Michigan on Tuesday night.
