Geneva native Santos, Cheeks rally Dayton to a 71-66 win over Northwestern

DAYTON, Ohio — Geneva native Nate Santos and Robert Morris transfer Enoch Cheeks each scored 16 points and Dayton took control of the game's tempo in the second half to come from 8 points down to beat Northwestern 71-66 on Saturday night.

Dayton snapped a three-game losing string to the Wildcats and evened the all-time series at 3-3.

Northwestern (1-1) controlled the tempo of the game in the first half, leading by 13 points after Nick Martinelli's dunk with 4:23 left and held a 32-24 advantage at the break.

Dayton got within a point at 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, 54-52. Cheeks hit a 3 with just under two minutes to play to push the lead to eight points 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 was one point shy of his career best with 26 points against Lehigh in Monday's season opener and set a new mark with 32 against the Flyers. He also grabbed 14 rebounds for his third career double-double and second straight to open the season. Freshman Angelo Ciaravino scored 12 points off the bench. The Wildcats were 25-of-56 shooting from the field and 5 of 20 from 3-point range.