SUN BELT MEN

Red Wolves fall to Flyers in opener

— Kendrick Washington scored 15 points, while Ed Townsel added 14 in Arkansas State’s 74-61 loss to Dayton in front of a crowd of 12,265 at UD Arena on Saturday afternoon.

The Flyers (1-0) used a 14-4 run over four minutes in the first half to pull away from the Red Wolves (0-1), who shot just 39.3 percent from the floor, when guard Vee Sanford made a three-pointer midway through the first half.

“We didn’t stop them consistently enough to make it a closer game,” ASU Coach John Brady said. “I was disappointed our three seniors didn’t step up to the plate today and we just need to get better overall. We had some players who executed well but need to do some things better.”

Townsel briefly put the Red Wolves back in front 19-18 with a three-pointer with 9:31 left until halftime, but Dayton reeled off 10 consecutive points to take control.

Forward Jalen Robinson’s layup on the low block put Dayton in front 20-19, and Sanford hit a three-pointer to move the lead to 23-19 with eight minutes to go in the first half.

Sanford, who finished with a game-high 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting, extend the lead to 25-19 after a dunk. After Brandon Peterson was stripped of the ball, Flyers center Josh Benson made a jumper at 7:15, and added a layup on the next possession to finish the run at 29-19 with 6:19 remaining in the first half — a span where ASU committed two of its 15 turnovers and missed two jumpers.

Washington, a junior transfer from Houston who was 7 of 13 shooting, ended the drought with a layup at 5:12 in the first half.

Yet, the Red Wolves only closed the lead to 34-27 at halftime when Washington sank a jumper with 23 seconds left in the half.

ASU couldn’t trim the margin closer than 10 points with 2:00 left in the second half.

The Flyers quickly stretched the lead to 44-29 with a 7-0 spurt in the first two minutes of the second half, taking a 44-29 lead with Robinson’s layup at the 17:50 mark. Guard Kevin Dillard’s three-pointer with 9:23 left in the second half gave Dayton, which shot 52.8 percent and outscored ASU in the lane 30-19, its largest lead at 56-39.

Benson added 14 points along with a team-high 8 rebounds for Dayton, while Dillard chipped in 12.

ASU cut the deficit to nine at 58-49 on a Washington jumper during a 10-2 Red Wolves’ scoring run. The Red Wolves narrowed the gap to 67-59 on two Golden free throws with 1:50 remaining before the Flyers closed out the contest scoring seven of the outing’s last 11 points.

SOUTHLAND MEN

ARIZONA STATE 79, CENTRAL ARKANSAS 64

TEMPE, Ariz. — Junior forward Jordan Harks finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds, but Central Arkansas couldn’t overcome a 20-2 run late in the first half in a loss to Arizona State at Wells Fargo Arena.

Jordan Bachynski had 17 points, 11 rebounds and a school-record 9 blocked shots to lead the Sun Devils (1-0). Jahii Carson scored 15 points and Evan Gordon had 14 as Arizona State finished 30 of 69 (43.5 percent) from the floor.

UCA (0-1), which trailed 49-31 at halftime, shot 37.1 percent (26 of 70) from the floor and committed 19 turnovers.

Senior forward Jarvis Garner added 11 points for the Bears.

Sports, Pages 25 on 11/11/2012

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