DAYTON, Ohio — Nate Santos and Enoch Cheeks each scored 16 points, and Dayton rallied from an eight-point second-half deficit to beat Northwestern 71-66 on Saturday night.
Dayton snapped a three-game losing streak to the Wildcats and evened the all-time series 3-3.
Northwestern (1-1) controlled the tempo in the first half and took a 13-point lead on Nick Martinelli’s dunk with 4:23 left. The Wildcats held a 32-24 advantage at the break.
Dayton pulled within 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 at 54-52. Cheeks hit a 3 with just less than two minutes to play to push the lead to eight, 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 scored 26 points against Lehigh in Monday’s season opener and set a career high with 32 against the Flyers. He also grabbed 14 rebounds Saturday for his third career double-double and second straight.
Angelo Ciaravino scored 12 points off the bench for the Wildcats, who shot 25-for-56 overall and 5 of 20 from 3-point range.
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