Atlantic Basketball: Dayton wins on buzzer beater, St. Bonaventure falls on opening night

Best Game of the Night

Dayton 78, Ball State 77

Red-shirt junior forward Josh Cunningham scored off a lob with 0.9 seconds left to give the two-time defending conference regular season champions Dayton Flyers a 78-77 victory over Ball State. The win was coach Anthony Grant’s first with the Flyers.

Just prior to Cunningham’s game-winner, Ball State had taken the lead on a layup of its own with 5.6 seconds remaining. But then on a designed inbounds play, Cunningham grabbed  Xeyrius Williams’  pass over the outstretched hands of a Ball State defensive player and finished at the rim with a hook shot.  Cunningham led the Flyers with 22 points.

Upset of the Night

Niagara 77, St. Bonaventure 75

St. Bonaventure headed into its season with high hopes as the Bonnies have the conference’s best backcourt with All-American candidate Jaylen Adams and Matt Mobley. But the Bonnies suffered a setback to Big-4 rival Niagara 77-75 as Adams (ankle) was unable to go. Mobley led a fierce comeback attempt by SBU with 29 points, 22 of those points came in the second half.

Next: 68 reasons to be excited for the college basketball season

Khalil Dukes led the way for Niagara with 23 points as he knocked down six three-pointers. Matt Scott added 18 points for the Purple Eagles (1-0), who snapped a six-game losing streak to the Bonnies. St. Bonaventure shot just 39.2% from the field.