Head coach Matt Doherty walked into a Moody Coliseum full of 2,707 screaming fans, including a full student section for Saturday night’s game.
The Mustangs took on a Dayton Flyers team that appeared in the NCAA Tournament just three seasons ago.
It wasn’t a pretty game, the Flyers shot 28.8 percent, and the Mustangs were only 30.6 percent for shooting.
“I’m really proud of our guys for gutting out a win. It obviously wasn’t a pretty game,” said Doherty.
The Mustangs got the job done at the free-throw line where SMU was 27 of 40, and 17 of 22 in the second half.
Doherty has stresses the need for his team to have more assists than turnovers and to make more free-throws than their opponents attempt.
The Mustangs achieved one of the goals on Saturday.
SMU made 27 free throws while the Flyers attempted only 24. But the Mustangs had 17 turnovers while reaching only seven assists.
“There are going to be games like this, I think that to gut it out showed a lot of character,” said Doherty.
The Mustangs survived a 16-point second half from Dayton’s Brian Roberts, by only allowing the rest of the Flyers to score a combined 10 points.
The Mustangs spread their scoring throughout the game, without having a clear cut “scorer.”
SMU was led by Devon Pearson and Derrick Roberts with 12 points, including Pearson’s two free throws that gave the Mustangs the lead for good with just under three minutes left in the game.
The Mustangs played through some foul trouble throughout the game.
Ike Ofoegbu fouled out of the game and Donatas Rackauskas played most of the second half with four fouls.
The Mustangs made 10 of their 11 free throw attempts in the final three minutes of the game to secure the victory.
Doherty finished by noting the volume of Moody and the turnout of the student section.
“With a crowd of just under 3,000 [Moody] is awfully loud. We had 3,000 people in there and it felt pretty loud. Let’s get six [thousand] in there in a tight ball game, and it’s a true home court advantage.”
SMU will continue their homestand on Wednesday night against the University of Louisiana-Monroe.
