NCAA Tournament scores: Dayton knocks off Stanford to advance to Elite 8
Stanford’s size was no problem for Dayton and the Flyers are now headed to the Elite 8.
Streeter Lecka
Dayton's run in the NCAA Tournament continued on Thursday with the No. 11 Flyers advancing past No. 10 Stanford and into the Elite 8. Dayton outplayed Stanford for most of the game, building an early lead and eventually coasting to a 82-72 victory.
Junior guard Jordan Sibert once again led the way for the Flyers. He shot the ball extremely well, including 4-of-9 from deep, scoring a team-high 18 points. He got some help from an unlikely source with freshman Kendall Pollard chipping in 12 points. The points were a new career-high and the first time he's scored in double-digits this season.
With Sibert and Pollard leading the way, the Flyers were able to pull away from the Cardinal late in the second half. Leading 22-21, Dayton went on a 12-2 run to build a double-digit lead. The Flyers were able to maintain an advantage, going into halftime with a 42-32 lead. They controlled most aspects of the first half and looked like the much better team.
Things changed quickly in the second half as Stanford began to exploit its size advantage inside. The Cardinal started feeding the ball to Stefan Nastic, Josh Huestis and Dwight Powell down low. The three combined to score Stanford's first 13 points of the second half, allowing Stanford to cut the lead to just four.
That’s when things flipped back to Dayton. Leading 49-45, Pollard scored, then Sibert hit a three to build the lead back up to nine. Nastic picked up his fourth foul on Stanford’s next offensive possession, sending him to the bench. A free throw and another Pollard layup later, Dayton was up 57-45.
Stanford did its best to mount another rally. Powell got going late in the second half and helped Stanford cut the lead to six with 8:10 to play. Just as it did all game, Dayton answered right back. Devon Scott made a difficult layup on the next possession, drawing a foul in the process.
Scott made the free throw to put Dayton up nine. The Cardinal didn’t seriously threaten the rest of the game. The Flyers were the lowest seed remaining in the Sweet 16 and will now march on to face either No. 1 Florida or No. 4 UCLA in the Elite 8.
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