Shooting 28 percent from the field and converting half of the free throws attempted is never a recipe for victory, as the men's basketball team found out Saturday.

The Flyers left the confines of UD Arena for the first time this season to play Southern Methodist and left Dallas with a 53-48 loss. A tight game throughout, UD trailed at the end of the first half by just two points in a seesaw first half battle. Dayton took a five-point lead on the heels of a Brian Roberts three-point basket, but the lead quickly evaporated. Thanks to a 10-point effort from senior forward Devon Pearson, the Mustangs charged into the intermission with a 24-22 lead.

Despite his offensive contribution, Pearson accounted for nearly half of the 11 SMU turnovers in the first half with five giveaways. The Flyers coughed up the ball 10 times which resulted in seven SMU points.

"We just made too many mistakes tonight,' Coach Brian Gregory said after the Flyers' first loss of the season.

The Mustangs exploded out of the gate stretching their lead to eight. But UD quickly responded. Thanks in part to seven second half rebounds from freshman Kurt Huelsman, UD evened the score at 36. Forward Norman Plummer made his season debut contributing six points and nine rebounds Saturday.

Stepping to the free throw line 18 times, UD only converted nine attempts. Meanwhile, SMU improved on their first half mark of 55 percent to 77 percent. Free throws by SMU put the game on ice and the Flyers dropped their first game of the season to fall to 2-1. SMU improved to 3-1 with the victory.

The miscues were apparent to Gregory after the game.

"I told the team that we will play 30 plus games this year, and two-thirds of them are going to come down to the last five minutes, like it did tonight. It's clearly evident that we must get better at the free throw line,' said Gregory. 'We held SMU to 30 percent from the field, 25 percent from three-point, out-rebounded them and forced them to commit more turnovers than us on their home court. But you can throw all of these things out the window if you don't shoot well from the free throw line.'

The Flyers return to UD Arena today, taking on Yale at 7 p.m. UD continues the 'homestand' with a game against Louisville in Cincinnati at US Bank Arena Friday.