Dayton loses 21-point lead, falls short in thriller against North Carolina

Here’s a quick recap of the game:

What it means: Dayton (5-1) lost a first-round game in Maui for the first time and fell to 9-4 in five appearances.

North Carolina (4-1) evened the series between the schools 2-2. This was the first meeting since the NIT championship game in 2010.

North Carolina’s 21-point comeback tied for the largest second-half comeback in school history.

Stars of the game: North Carolina’s All-American guard RJ Davis scored 20 of his 30 points in the second half. He made 8 of 19 field goals and 10 of 11 free throws.

Nate Santos led Dayton with 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting. He was one of five Flyers in double figures.

Stat of the game: North Carolina made 27 of 34 free throws (79.4%). Dayton made 12 of 15 (80%).

Big shots: Drake Powell gave North Carolina an 88-87 lead on a 3-pointer with 1 minute, 13 seconds to play. Dayton appeared to tie the game on a 3-pointer by Santos with six seconds remaining, but it was ruled a 2-pointer on review.

Davis made two free throws with four seconds to play to push North Carolina’s lead back to three points. North Carolina didn’t let Dayton attempt a tying 3 in the final seconds, fouling Malachi Smith, who made his first free throw and missed the first on purpose. North Carolina got the rebound to clinch the victory.

Hot shooters: Dayton shot a season-best 43.8% (14 of 32) from 3-point range. Javon Bennett, Enoch Cheeks and Amaël L’Etang all made three 3s.

Looking ahead: Dayton will play Iowa State in the consolation round at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. The game will start at 3:30 p.m. in Maui. It will air on ESPNU.

Iowa State (3-1) blew an 18-point lead in a 83-81 loss to Auburn (5-0), which won the game on a tip-in by All-American forward Johni Broome with a second to play.

North Carolina will play Auburn at 11 p.m. Tuesday, or 6 p.m. in Maui.

HALFTIME RECAP

Dayton made 7 of 18 3-pointers to build a 51-33 halftime lead against North Carolina. It was the biggest halftime lead of the season for the Flyers.

Here’s a quick recap of the half:

Key player: Posh Alexander made 4 of 7 shots and led Dayton with 11 points. Ten players saw action in the first half for Dayton. All 10 scored at least two points.

Key stat: While Dayton shot 38.9% from 3-point range, North Carolina shot 18.2% (2 of 11).

Turnover difference: Dayton committed only four turnovers. North Carolina had 12. Dayton scored 19 points off turnovers.

Big run: Dayton led 23-22 with 8:05 to play and then scored the next 11 points to take a 34-22 lead at the 6:30 mark.

Career first: Dayton freshman Hamad Mousa missed all six of his 3-point attempts in the first five games but made his only attempt in the first half against the Tar Heels.

Foul trouble: There were 24 fouls in the first half: 14 on Dayton; and 10 on North Carolina. Four Flyers had two fouls in the first half. Only Enoch Cheeks had three. North Carolina had four players with two fouls.

Rotation news: For the second straight game, Jaiun Simon saw minutes early in the first half. He saw limited playing time in the first four games. He made his only field-goal attempt in the first half