KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Despite a 16-2 run to close the second half and force overtime, the Georgetown University men's basketball couldn't complete the comeback and fell just short in overtime to the University of Dayton Flyers, 84-79, in its first game of the Terry's Chocolate ESPN Invitational on Thursday evening. The game, played at the State Farm Field House at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Kissimmee, Florida, marks the first loss of the season for the Blue & Gray as the squad slips to 5-1. With the win, Dayton improves to 6-1 on the season. The Hoyas have a quick turnaround to face the University of Miami Hurricanes on Friday night at 7 p.m.
 
ON THE RECORD
"Obviously Dayton played really, really well, especially to start the game. I thought they threw the first three or four punches at us. Give them a lot of credit, I thought their kids were prepared, I thought they were tougher than we were to start the game. They kept us off balance, Coach does a great job changing defenses. Before I talk about the game - when you talk about somebody who has an incredible amount of class for our profession, a very established coach - Anthony Grant, I think he's overshadowed and a lot of things that he's done, that he's accomplished in his coaching career. And just to see him, I was really, really happy to see him, very happy to compete against his team, but just an incredible human being. I've known him for a long time, going back to when he was with Billy at Florida. I thought his kids played well, and they did the things they had to do to win for us. The disappointing thing was our defensive discipline, we're fouling too much at the wrong time. We had an opportunity, we didn't play as well as we wanted to, but in the game of basketball, it normally comes down to a play here or there, a possession here or there, and again, you've got to do the right things in order to earn a win. I don't think we earned anything today. I give our kids a lot of credit - our men fought back down double digits late in the game. Our defense, we ramped up our intensity. It's a quick turnaround, but I'm grateful to be here. It's unfortunate that we lost. We've going to do a great job in our preparation over the next couple hours to make sure today doesn't beat us tomorrow," -Head Coach Ed Cooley on the game
 
HOYA HIGHLIGHTS

• Malik Mack led all scorers and a trio of Hoyas in double figures with 24 points on nine made field goals, including a quartet of 3-pointers. He added a quartet of assists, four boards and a team-best two steals on the day.
• KJ Lewis followed up with 19 points on five made field goals to go along with a game-best seven assists and six rebounds.
• Julius Halaifonua rounded out those in double figures with his second-straight game tallying a career-best 16 points. He managed an efficient 7-for-10 performance from the field, including a 50.0% (2-4) showing from deep. He added seven rebounds, one block, one assist and one steal to his line.
• Caleb Williams' nine boards led GU on the glass.
• Georgetown shot 44.4 (28-63) for the game and 36.0% (9-25) from deep.
• The Hoyas narrowly lost the battle on the glass 40-38.
• Georgetown forced 13 Flyer turnovers on five steals.

 
FLYER HIGHLIGHTS

• A'mael L'Etang led a balanced Flyer attack as five were in double figures. L'Etang tallied 18 followed by 13 each from Javon Bennett and De'Shayne Montgomery while Jordan Derkack and Bryce Heard added 12 apiece.
• Derkack's eight rebounds led the Flyers on the glass while L'Etang and Montgomery each grabbed six.
• Bennett and Montgomery paced the offense with four assists apiece.
• The Flyers shot 40.7% (24-59) from the field and landed 11-for-26 (42.3%) from beyond the arc.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Hoyas got off to a slow start despite an Isaiah Abraham triple to get GU on the board. Dayton strung together 12 unanswered to take a 13-3 lead. A 7-2 stretch for the Blue & Gray sparked by a Halaifonua bucket and five from Mack made it a two-possession game as the Flyers led 15-10 (13:27).
• Dayton pulled away again and led by as many as 15 (34-19) before Lewis managed his first points of the game, a pair of free throws with 4:44 remaining in the stanza. Despite a Flyer dunk on the other end, Lewis responded with a 5-0 spurt of his own to pull GU within 10 (36-26).
• A Mack triple cut the deficit to single digits before a pair of Flyer free throws pushed it back. Jayden Fort's layup with 13 ticks on the clock sent both teams into the break with Dayton leading 40-31.
• The Flyers opened the scoring in the second half but the Hoyas tallied nine unanswered sparked by a Halaifonua trey and capped by an emphatic Abraham dunk. Dayton was only able to stop the drought with a free throw out of the huddle. However, on the next possession, it was another Halaifonua triple, this time from the right side, that tied the game up at 43 apiece. Georgetown took its first lead of the game on a Lewis free throw, 44-43, with 14:24 on the clock.
• The lead was short lived as Dayton staged a 17-4 run over 6:03 to take the 60-48 advantage. Caleb Williams drained a triple for his first points of the game to end the run and pull the Blue & Gray within single digits.
• The Flyers extended the lead back to 14 (67-53) but six straight for GU, including the last five from Mack, forced the UD timeout with 4:25 on the clock as the Hoyas pulled within eight. A Lewis bucket made it a two-possession game but Dayton had the retort before Mack laced a triple to pull GU within five (69-64) with 2:58 on the clock.
• A Lewis free throw followed by a Halaifonua bucket pulled Georgetown within two with 1:19 on the clock. With 35 seconds on the clock, Abraham drew the foul and sunk both of his free throws to knot the game at 69. A defensive stop would send the game to an extra frame.
• Lewis drew first in the overtime period, lacing a 3-pointer to give GU the 72-69 advantage but UD answered with an 8-0 run on the other end before a Halaifonua layup made it a one-possession game again (77-74, 1:40). Both teams continued to trade points but a Mack layup with 33.9 on the clock made it a two-point game as the Blue & Gray called its final timeout. Out of the huddle, GU sent a Flyer to the line who made 1-of-2 but the Hoyas couldn't find the equalizer, falling 84-79.

 
UP NEXT
Georgetown will be back in action on Friday, November 28 when the squad faces the University of Miami Hurricanes in the final game of the Terry's Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational. Tipoff at State Farm Field House is scheduled for 7 p.m. with Rich Hollenberg calling the play-by-play and Fran Fraschilla providing analysis. The game can be heard locally on Team 980 as well as on the SiriusXM app with Rich Chvotkin, in his 52nd season as the Voice of the Hoyas, calling the action.