Live LoaderVAVEL Live SmallLive Match

2nd Half (0:00) - Dayton 66, Providence 53

2nd Half (0:19) Scoochie Smith makes them both to make it 66-53. 

2nd Half (0:27) Kyron Cartwright makes the layup and then misses the free throw. 64-53, Dayton.

2nd Half (0:33) Kyle Davis makes both free throws and his team leads, 64-51. 

2nd Half (0:47) Kris Dunn puts Sibert on the line. In the act, he fouls out. Sibert makes them both and it is an 11 point lead for Dayton

2nd Half (1:04) LaDontae Henton with another three. He makes it a nine point game. Henton must be asking himself why this range was not around earlier, but at least they are falling now. 

2nd Half (1:17) Scoochie Smith nails both free throws. We are back to a 12 point lead. 

2nd Half (1:25) LaDontae Henton makes a three point jumper from about 24 feet out. Nice look to make it a 10 point game. 

2nd Half (1:43) Jordan Sibert hits both from the line to put the Flyers up, 58-45.

2nd Half (1:54) Kris Dunn comes down and hits a three for Providence to try and keep them alive, but the Firars are down by 11. 

2nd Half (1:59) Dyshawn Pierre makes a hook shot. Count the bucket and the foul. He hits from the stripe to complete the and-one. 56-42, Dayton

2nd Half (2:51) Scoochie Smith has an open three, but he decides to drive the ball and lay it in with his left hand. Dayton with an 11 point lead. 

Providence has not led once in the second half. 

2nd Half (3:42) Jordan Sibert goes 1-for-2 on the technical foul free throws. 51-42, Dayton

WOW! Providence brings their entire team out on the court during the timeout and the coach slams the chair to pump up his team, but they are given a technical foul. He was just trying to pump up the team, nothing more and nothing less.  

Official TV Timeout: Dayton 50, Providence 42

Can you believe it? Dayton is flying high and ready to upset. They are looking so confident on the court right now. 

2nd Half (4:23) Dyshawn Pierre adds to his point total will a three ball to put Dayton up by eight here in the late stages of the game. 

2nd Half (5:01) Dunn gets fouled and makes one, then misses one from the charity stripe. Dayton leads by five. 

2nd Half (6:09) BANG! Jordan Sibert with a huge three to put the Flyers up by six points. 

2nd Half (6:43) LaDontae Henton finishes with a layup. However, Dayton has the lead by three points. 

Official TV Timeout - Dayton 44, Providence 39

2nd Half (7:41) Kyle Davis with a turnover after multipe missed shots form both sides in the last few minutes.

2nd Half (9:19) Ben Bentil goes 1-for-2 from the stripe. Providence is now down by just five points. 

2nd Half (9:55) LaDontae Henton knocks down the three. He has been the only hot hand for the Firars lately. 

Providence Timeout - Dayton 44, Providence 35

2nd Half (10:23) Dyshawn Pierre with a booming three point jumer. Dayton has the nine point lead. 

2nd Half (10:59) Darrell Davis with a huge three ball to put the Flyers up by six.

2nd Half (11:59) LaDonte Henton lays it in for two. He is trying to do all he can to cut into the lead.

2nd (12:29): Pollard knocks the ball out of bounds while going for a rebound.

2nd (13:11): Both teams missing shots. Three-point attempts are just not falling.

2nd (15:04): Pierre with the drive the bucket and the finish. 38-33 Dayton

Media Timeout: Dayton 36, Providence 33

2nd (16:02): Sibert with the three from the corner! Dayton 36-33. Now we are starting to see some shooting!

2nd (16:30): Jalen Lindsey with the three! 33-33

2nd (17:07): Dyshawn Pierre with the three from the corner! 33-30 Dayton

2nd (18:08) Kris Dunn with the bankshot jumper. 30-30

2nd (18:35): Kyle Davis with the steal and the bucket on the fast break. 30-28 Dayton

2nd (19:35): Lindsey hits a three! 28-28

2nd (20:00): Providence inbounds the ball and we are underway.

The teams finally seemed to be getting their legs underneath them as the half went on. Like we asked earlier, does Dayton have the legs to finish this game off?

Halftime: Dayton 28, Providence 25

1st (0:00): Providence cannot get a shot down at the end of the half.

1st (0:45): Backcourt violation on Providence. A big turnover there for the Friars.

1st (1:35): Henton with the three, Sibert responds. 28-25 Dayton

1st (2:10): Bentil with the jumphook. 25-22 Dayton

1st (2:31): Pierre connects on a layup. 25-20 Dayton

1st (3:16): BLOCK! Pollard with a huge block on Kris Dunn on what Dunn thought would be a dunk. POLLARD AGAIN! Anoter block and they lays it in on the other side. 23-20 Dayton

1st (3:55): Kris Dunn's free throw is good. 21-18 Dayton

Media Timeout: Dayton 21, Providence 17

1st (3:55): Kris Dunn with the smooth slice through the lane. He makes the bucket and draws the foul. 21-17 Dayton

1st (4:15): Bobby Wehrli with the putback bucket! 21-15 Dayton

1st (5:02): Cartwright hits a three! 19-15 Dayton

1st (5:44): Kendall Pollard goes to the line after he is fouled on the drive. His first free throw is good. The second is no good. 19-12 Dayton

1st (6:03): Dyshawn Pierre draws a foul on the other end. His first free throw is good. The second is good. 18-12 Dayton

1st (6:29): Lindsey for three! 16-12 Dayton

1st (7:01): Kris Dunn finally gets on the board for the Friars. 16-9 Dayton

1st (7:57): Scoochie Smith with a great bucket in transition. Dayton 16-7

1st (8:03): We are back after some technical difficulties. It has been a very low scoring game to this point with the score Dayton 14, Providence 7.

The game will tip-off at 9:57 PM EST. We will stay with you live! However, due to other games running late. This one will not get underway until 10:45 PM EST. 

UPDATE: Oklahoma defeated Albany, 69-60. This means that the winner of this game will face No. 3 Oklahoma in the Round of 32.

"I still think Tyler is our third option, if you want to call it an option," Cooley said. "And Ben is just emerging in front of ours eyes every single day. And the more he slows down, the more efficient he's becoming. He's not thinking. He's playing."

"I'm a firm believer in everything happens for a reason," Providence's star Henton said. "It's been a right fit ever since I came here. And I think it's one of the best decisions I made in my life to come to Providence College, and everything is working out for the best."

"We're actually excited about it," Cooley said. "We're here to compete the best we can, and not so much worry about the crowd."

"We've lost a lot of practice availability," coach Archie Miller said. "We've lost the ability to do that in the last 10-12 days because of all the games. It's more of a physical thing. And getting ourselves ready to go physically is the biggest thing, because mentally, we're ready to go."

"It was rough," said senior Jordan Sibert on the 80-mile bus trip. "Just leaving the game and trying to get on a bus and come right up here right after the game. But we did a good job just sticking together and making sure that we enjoyed the moment last night, but as soon as we got back, we tried to get rested up as much as possible. Now we're just moving on to the next game."

"We don't get tired," Dayton guard Scoochie Smith said Thursday, about 19 hours after the Flyers rallied to beat Boise State in the First Four. "Can't afford to get tired."

Here are some quotes from both sides. 

Our key to the game for Providence is to feed the post and feed it often. They have a very big, no pun intended, size advantage down low with 7-footers Paschal Chukwu and Carson Desrosiers. They need to establish them early and often.

The two leaders on this Providence team are LaDontae Henton and Kris Dunn. Each average over 15.8 points per game and can carry the team with their hot shooting. Henton is a senior and will be looking to extend his playing career as long as he can while Dunn is only a sophomore.

It is they who are the #6 seed now for the second time in school history. Fun fact, the other time Providence was seeded at #6? 1987. They went on to the Final Four that season.

This will be the 16th appearance in the NCAA Tournament for the Friars and their second in a row. Last season, they were an 11 seed who fell in a tight contest with the North Carolina Tar Heels by a score of 79-77.

The Providence Friars come into tonight’s game having split their last 12 games. They are 6-6 coming down the stretch including a semifinal loss in the Big East Conference Tournament to Villanova.

The biggest key for Dayton tonight will be to make their shots as their odds of picking up rebounds among the trees in the post will be very low.

The two other players to watch tonight will be Kendall Pollard and Dyshawn Pierre. They are the “big men” on the team and will likely have their hands full with Carson Desrosiers and Paschal Chukwu in the post.

On top of that, Jordan Sibert has been dealing with a wrist injury that has forced him to cut down all of his shooting to just warmups on game day and during the game. It is amazing to see how smooth his shooting stroke is considering he doesn’t get a chance to work on that.

The win boosted the Flyers into the Round of 64 but at what cost? The team has been playing with only seven players in their rotation for the better part of the late season. How much will they have in the tank after a physically and emotionally draining game just 48 hours ago?

Kendall Pollard and Scoochie Smith each stepped up big in Sibert’s absence. Polland finished the game with 17 points and six rebounds while Smith added 11 points and six assists.

Despite missing a majority of the first half with foul trouble, senior guard Jordan Sibert came up big with a clutch three-pointer from the elbow with 37 seconds left to lift the Flyers to the opening round win.

Dayton has already achieved that feat in this year’s Tournament as they defeated Boise State in a thrilling 56-55 win on their home floor in the First Four on Wednesday night.

The Dayton Flyers are making their 16th NCAA Tournament appearance, their third consecutive as an 11 seed. In each of their last three appearances, they have won at least their first game.

Today’s game is part of the East Region where the winner will face either No. 14 Albany or No. 3 Oklahoma. The Albany/Oklahoma matchup will take place at 7:27 PM EST. There will be a live for that game done by Karl Capen. Check the home page before tip-off to view the live. 

Good afternoon and welcome to VAVEL USA’s live coverage of the 2015 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Our game today is in the Round of 64 and it will take place at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. The matchup between the Dayton Flyers (26-8) and the Providence Friars (22-11). My name is Evan Petzold (@EvanPetzold) and I will be your host for today’s game. 

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Evan Petzold
Evan Petzold is a Detroit-based journalist with expertise in covering the Tigers, Pistons, and Red Wings. A member of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) and Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association (DBSA), he brings a unique skill set in reporting and broadcasting to the table.