The 2024 tournament starts Tuesday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., and No. 3 seed Dayton (24-6) plays in the quarterfinals at 7:30 p.m. Thursday

The Flyers won the championship in 2003 at UD Arena. They made an unexpected run to the final game in 2011 before losing to Richmond. Those are the two instances in which fans had no reasons to complain about poor performances or bad luck.

In 27 A-10 tournament appearances, Dayton has lost its first game seven times. It has won its first game and lost its second game 14 times. It has gone 2-1 five times. Only the 2003 (3-0) and 2011 (3-1) teams have won three games, and those teams as well as the 2015 and 2024 teams are the only teams to reach the final game.

No team owned Dayton in the A-10 tournament like Xavier, which was 6-1 against the Flyers in the event before leaving the A-10 in 2013. Now Virginia Commonwealth has taken on that role. It is 3-0 against Dayton in the A-10 tournament.

Dayton has played 54 games in the tournament. It is 28-26.

Here’s a look back at each game through the game Dayton Daily News game stories of Bucky Albers, Doug Harris and David Jablonski.

1996, Philadelphia Civic Center

Record: 0-1.

Seed: West Division No. 4.

Results: Lost 72-60 to East Division No. 5 St. Bonaventure in first round.

What Albers wrote: The University of Dayton’s most difficult basketball season came to a quiet conclusion Wednesday afternoon in front of fewer than 1,000 spectators in the cavernous old Philadelphia Civic Center.

Dayton, which never led, ended its season with a 15-14 record - the first above .500 since the 1989-90 team went 22-10.

The Flyers, who demonstrated extraordinary resilience in bouncing back from the shock of teammate Chris Daniels’ death a month ago, didn’t have enough left to extract themselves from a predicament they put themselves in against aggressive St. Bonaventure.

Spotting the Bonnies a 9-0 lead, Dayton was beaten, 72-60, in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament after a late rally fell short.The Flyers were hoping to end a five-year tournament victory drought, but St. Bonaventure hadn’t won a postseason game in 10 years. Perhaps that’s why the Bonnies played defense like a pack of hungry wolves.

Coach Jim Baron’s 10-17 team, which lost, 66-58, to UD Feb. 17, roughed up the Flyers and earned an ESPN television date with top-seeded Massachusetts today at noon.

St. Bonaventure, a team that prefers rough, physical play, found in officials Ron Foxcroft, Larry Lembo and Art McDonald a trio that was especially tolerant of such aggression. The Flyers were caught off guard and fell far behind before they adjusted.

”I don’t think our heads were in the game the first few minutes,” said Ryan Perryman, whose head, arms, chest and shoulders took a pounding every time he attempted a shot in the paint. “They were pretty physical. Every shot I took was a tough shot.”

1997: The Spectrum, Philadelphia

Record: 0-1.

Seed: West Division No. 4

Result: Lost 81-75 to East Division No. 5 St. Bonaventure in first round.

What Albers wrote: There weren’t many dry eyes in the locker room Wednesday after the University of Dayton Flyers took another first-round tumble in the Atlantic 10 Conference men’s basketball championship tournament.

Coach Oliver Purnell emerged in tears, and it was obvious inside that many of the players had been sobbing after UD was defeated, 81-75, by St. Bonaventure before 6,011 at the CoreStates Spectrum.

”I like this team,” Purnell said. “I like the people on it. They’ve worked hard. They’ve been resilient.”In what was the final game for seniors Maurice Beyina, Shawn Haughn and Darnell Hoskins, Dayton dogged the Bonnies until the end but couldn’t overcome the damage that had been done earlier, when the Flyers fell behind by 18 points.

”I’m disappointed for the team but mainly the seniors,” Purnell said. “I felt like we could go farther. I felt like if we could get a game, we could really make some noise in this tournament.”It’s a big disappointment. Yet at the same time, our guys went out fighting. It says something about the leadership on this team. They kept their heads up. That’s why we were able to get back within striking distance in the second half.”

Dayton, which hasn’t won a postseason tournament game in six years, lost to the Bonnies for the second year in succession and finished the season with a 13-14 record, making this UD’s eighth losing season in the last 11.

”If I could have written a script to the way I wanted my career to end, it wouldn’t have been this way,” Hoskins said. “My last college game, and I stunk up the gym. The ball bounces that way sometimes.”

1998: The Spectrum, Philadelphia

Record: 1-1.

Seed: West Division No. 3.

Results: Beat East No. 6 seed 68-60 in first round; Lost 83-70 to East No. 2 Rhode Island in quarterfinals.

What Albers wrote on Game 1: Ryan Perryman scored 17 of his 20 points in the second half as the University of Dayton overcame an injury to point guard Edwin Young and struggled to a 68-60 victory over Fordham on Wednesday night in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament.

Trailing by nine points with 12:37 left, Dayton rallied behind Perryman to beat the fired-up Rams. Tony Stanley scored 18 points and Mark Ashman added 14 as Dayton boosted its record to 20-10.

The victory ended a string of seven consecutive losses in conference tournament games. UD had lost six straight first-round games.

What Albers wrote on Game 2: “Man, I couldn’t buy a basket.”

It was Ryan Perryman who said it Thursday night, but it could have been any of the University of Dayton Flyers.

The baskets at the CoreStates Spectrum seemed to the Flyers like they had lids on them as Dayton lost an 83-70 decision to 26th-ranked Rhode Island in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Championship.

Time and time again, especially in the first half the Flyers penetrated for good shots, only to see the ball bounce, roll or fall off the rims.

As a result, Dayton is done playing basketball until the committees who select the NCAA and NIT tournament fields make their decisions.

“That’s out of our hands,” UD coach Oliver Purnell said. “We felt we had to go deep into the tournament to assure a spot in the NCAA. We’ve got 20 wins. We’ve got four wins over top-25 teams. Obviously I’m biased I think we will be in. At any rate, it’s a safe bet we wil! be playing (again).”

Although the Flyers fell behind Rhode Island late in the first half and never caught up, Purnell said he was proud of the team — in particular, the way it finished. Crippled by the sprained ankle that took Edwin Young out of the mix, Davton had to play zone defense all night, and Rhode Island eventually solved it. The Rams rained 12 3-point bombs on the Flyers and penetrated for easy shots in the second half.

1999: The Spectrum, Philadelphia

Record: 1-1.

Seed: West Division No. 5.

Results: Beat East Division No. 4 St. Bonaventure 70-69 in first round; lost 100-90 to West No. 1 George Washington in quarterfinals.

What Albers wrote on Game 1: When it comes to shooting a basketball, Cain Doliboa has no conscience.

No matter what the stakes, Doliboa can pull the trigger without fear of failure.

The University of Dayton Flyers were in trouble Wednesday night when Cool Hand Cain rescued them with one of the biggest shots of his career.

That’s why they’ll be playing George Washington University tonight in the second round of the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship at the First Union Spectrum.

Doliboa’s three-point shot with 2:11 remaining in a five-minute overtime period wiped out a three-point deficit and propelled the Flyers to a hard-earned 70-69 victory over St. Bonaventure.

The Flyers, who had botched their last possession in regulation with a turnover, were in trouble after the Bonnies scored the first four points of the overtime to lead, 68-64. Mark Ashman made one of two free throws, but UD still trailed by three when the ball was passed to Doliboa, who was well covered by the Bonnies’ David Messiah Capers on the left wing. Undaunted, Doliboa pulled the trigger in Capers’ face.

“I felt like I could make it,” said the 6-foot-7 sophomore from Springboro. “I didn’t think he was guarding me that close. I feel like any guard on our team would have knocked it down just like I did.”

What Albers wrote on Game 2: For the ninth straight year and the 13th time in the last 14 seasons, the University of Dayton will not be among the 64 participants in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship.

The Flyers (11-17) lost their last hope for a ticket to the Big Dance Thursday night when they were beaten, 100-90, by George Washington in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship.

Dayton, which had upset St. Bonaventure in a first round game Wednesday, came crashing back to reality Thursday. In a physical game during which a tournament-record 65 free throws were made, GW built a 31-point lead, rested its regulars for awhile and withstood a 59-point second half by the Flyers.

The Colonials (20-7) meet Rhode Island (18-12) in a semifinal game tonight while Xavier (21-9) faces Temple (20-8) in the other semi at the First Union Spectrum.

“I told our players after the game that we didn’t play well enough early enough,” UD coach Oliver Purnell said. “We allowed GW to get out in transition early in the game. Any time you give a very good team that much of a working margin, you almost have to play perfectly to catch up.”

As usual, the Flyers were unable to contain GW’s pint-sized point guard, Shawnta Rogers. The 5-foot-4 senior scored 28 points, hitting six of 14 field goal attempts and sinking 13 of 14 free throws.

2000: The Spectrum, Philadelphia

Record: 1-1.

Seed: West Division No. 1.

Results: Beat East No. 4 Saint Joseph’s 67-64 in quarterfinals; lost 56-50 to East No. 2 St. Bonaventure in semifinals.

What Albers wrote on Game 1: The season just keeps getting rosier for the University of Dayton Flyers.

They pulled away to a six-point lead over pesky St. Joseph’s with 18 seconds remaining Thursday night and then had to survived some shaky free-throw shooting to beat the Hawks, 67-64, in an Atlantic 10 Conference tournament game at the First Union Spectrum.

Dayton, now 22-7, will face St. Bonaventure, 20-8, in a semifinal game at 9:30 tonight. The game will be televised by the A-10 network and carried in the Dayton area by Fox Sports Ohio. The Bonnies defeated Xavier, 72-69, Thursday night and probably clinched an NCAA bid in the process. In their only meeting this season, Dayton defeated St. Bonaventure, 68-64, Feb. 12 at UD Arena.

The Flyers needed a clutch rebound from Tony Stanley to reach the A-10 semifinal round for the first time and lock up an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

With five seconds to play and the Flyers clinging to a 66-64 lead, Stanley grabbed the rebound off a missed free throw by Mark Ashman to seal the victory. “Tony made a heckuva play because the ball came out and he went straight up in the air without going over the back,” UD coach Oliver Purnell said. “If you go over the back there or (the officials) perceive that you went over the back, you’ve got a problem.”

Retreating with the basketball, Stanley was fouled with 2.3 seconds left and made the second of two. Brooks Hall intercepted a desperation heave by the Hawks to end it.

Stanley scored 19 points and grabbed 8 rebounds, David Morris had 16 points and Ashman contributed 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Flyers, who continued their season-long pattern of not losing back-to-back games.

“We thumped them on the boards (37-24) and took care of the basketball,” Purnell said. “We weren’t great from the free throw line, but we made enough to hold them off.”

What Albers wrote on Game 2: After recovering from their worst first half of the season to take the lead with eight minutes remaining, the University of Dayton Flyers self-destructed with turnovers Friday night and fell to St. Bonaventure, 56-50, in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Conference men’s basketball tournament.

A crowd of 13,202 at the First Union Spectrum saw St. Bonaventure limit UD to 16 points in the first half with a suffocating man-to-man defense.

The Bonnies earned the right to face Temple (25-5) in the championship game at 6 p.m. today. Temple was a 54-47 winner over Massachusetts in Friday’s other semifinal.

The loss left Dayton with a 22-8 record as it awaits an assignment for the NCAA Tournament on Sunday night’s CBS-TV selection show. The NCAA tourney will have first-round games Thursday and Friday.

“I told the players we only played one half, and that’s not good enough against the teams we’ll be playing from now on,” UD coach Oliver Purnell said. “We really have to learn from this because from this point you’re one and done.”

2001: The Spectrum, Philadelphia

Record: 1-1.

Seed: No. 6.

Results: Beat No. 11 Rhode Island 85-59 in first round; lost 76-63 to No. 3 Temple in quarterfinals.

What Albers wrote on Game 1: A week ago, before the Fordham game, University of Dayton basketball coach Oliver Purnell called Brooks Hall into his office and told him, in effect, that it was time for him to turn it on.

Hall, the 6-foot-6 sophomore from Troy, hadn’t had a significant offensive spurt all season. In fact, going into Wednesday night’s Atlantic 10 Conference tournament game with Rhode Island, his scoring and rebounding numbers didn’t measure up to those he posted as a freshman.

Purnell told him to turn it loose, that the law of averages was in his favor.

Taking the advice to heart, Hall scored 16 points against Fordham and then 13 against Xavier. On Wednesday night, he really turned it on, collecting a career-high 24 points as Dayton dismantled Rhode Island, 85-59, at the First Union Spectrum. The victory vaulted the Flyers into a quarterfinal match against Temple tonight at 7.

Amazingly, this is the first time this season that Hall has scored in double figures in three consecutive games. Last year, he had a string of 11 in succession.

“I haven’t had the good stretch I wanted,” Hall said. “Things are starting to come together. I’m getting more confidence. I’m realizing that the team needs me to do that kind of thing. I don’t mind shooting. I hesitated earlier in the year. Now, if I’m open, I’m going to shoot it.”

What Albers wrote on Game 2: The glass slipper didn’t fit. The University of Dayton will make no Cinderella appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

Temple slammed the door in Dayton’s face Thursday night and kept alive its own hopes for admission to the Big Dance with a convincing 76-63 victory over the Flyers in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament at the First Union Spectrum.

It is the 19th consecutive year Temple has advanced to the A-10 semifinals. The Owls play George Washington tonight after the Colonials upset Xavier, 83-74.

Having lost their last avenue to the NCAA, the Flyers now must direct their attention to the National Invitation Tournament selection process. With a 19-12 record, Coach Oliver Purnell’s team seems to have good enough credentials to win a spot in the NIT field, and UD officials have the Arena available for a possible home game on Wednesday if the NIT committee decides to play a game in Dayton.

“We think we’ve got a pretty good chance of playing in it,” Purnell said. “We talked to the team about playing more basketball. Obviously, that’s not in our hands, but we feel like we’ve acquitted ourselves pretty well this year with three wins over top 25 teams. We have a 6-5 road record, we finished strong and we certainly are a very strong candidate for the NIT.”

2002: The Spectrum, Philadelphia

Record: 2-1.

Seed: West Division No. 3.

Results: Beat East No. 6 Rhode Island 90-71 in first round; beat East No. 2 Saint Joseph’s 81-74 in quarterfinals; and lost 66-59 to West No. 1 Xavier in semifinals.

What Albers wrote on Game 1: When the mascot, Rudy Flyer, nailed a shot from the center circle just before the University of Dayton Flyers took the court at the First Union Spectrum on Wednesday afternoon, the 200 UD fans in the audience should have known it was going to be a good day.

It wasn’t apparent during the first half when a hot-shooting Rhode Island team matched the Flyers stride for stride, but Dayton broke away in the second half to rip the Rams, 90-71, in an Atlantic 10 Conference tournament first-round game witnessed by 5,571.

Two unlikely heroes, D.J. Stelly and Sean Finn, did much of the scoring as UD won its first game in the A-10 tourney for the fifth straight year, advancing to a quarterfinal round meeting with Saint Joseph’s (18-10) today at 2 p.m. The telecast will be carried by Fox SportsOhio.

Stelly, the 6-foot-4 junior wingman who has given the Flyers short infusions of energy in many games this season, outdid himself this time. With three 3-point shots among seven field goals, he produced career-highs of 19 points and seven rebounds in 20 minutes.

Finn, the slender 6-foot-11 sophomore center who often plays too passively, reacted to a pregame pep talk from captain David Morris with the best game of his career. Finn made an emphatic dunk for the first two points of the game and had seven more baskets in a 17-point performance that equaled his career high. The only blotch on his line in the box score was a 1-for-6 at the free-throw line.

What Albers wrote on Game 2: Put grandma and the kids in the SUV and point it toward Philadelphia.

The University of Dayton Flyers have made it to the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament, and they’re playing Xavier tonight (Fox Sports Ohio at 7:05 p.m.) at the First Union Center.

The Flyers, now 20-9, took another step toward the elusive NCAA Tournament berth Thursday by upsetting Saint Joseph’s, 81-74, in a quarterfinal game after West Division champion Xavier had narrowly averted an upset in beating Massachusetts, 65-59, in overtime.

Center Sean Finn, blossoming suddenly and somewhat unexpectedly near the end of his sophomore season, scored 12 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked a school record-tying six shots as the Flyers built a 17-point lead (62-45) with 5:45 remaining and weathered a late rally by the Hawks, who finished second in the East.

“He was our MVP today,” UD’s Brooks Hall said of Finn. “He played really well. He dominated the game on both ends of the floor. I know he’s going to play like that (today), too.”

What Albers wrote on Game 3: Brooks Hall summarized it about as well as anyone could.

“We have no excuses,” the University of Dayton basketball player said Friday night. “They just beat us again. It gets old.”

This was after the Flyers bowed out of the Atlantic 10 Conference championship with a 66-59 loss to Xavier in a semifinal game at the First Union Spectrum. It was Dayton’s third loss to the Musketeers this season.

“I’ve said it before,” said Hall, a 6-foot-6 junior. “I think it was more us than it was them.”

Xavier outlasted the Flyers because it got a big finish from A-10 player of the year David West. The 6-foot-9, 230-pound center scored nine of his game-high 21 points while the Musketeers were pulling away after a 25-minute delay in the second half caused by the malfunction one of the shot clocks.

Dayton had tied the score at 44 when sophomore center Sean Finn shook the foundation of the basket with an emphatic dunk with 11:42 remaining. Play was stopped with 11:27 left when the officials realized that the shot clock on UD’s end was not functioning.

Workers at the Spectrum took a look at the clock and declared it inoperable without even bringing out a step ladder to get a close look. They produced an ancient, dust-covered 24-second clock and placed in on the court in the UD end, and the officials thought about resuming with the Flyers having to search for the clock and Xavier having a normal situation at the other end.

UD coach Oliver Purnell protested, and the Spectrum crew disconnected Xavier’s clock and put another 24-second clock in its end.

Officials at the scorer’s table would count 11 seconds before activating the clock on each possession. The UD pep band, stationed behind the basket, counted aloud each time the clock was close to running out.

Dayton scored first after the long delay, but Xavier followed with seven straight points to take a 51-46 lead and would not relinquish it.

2003: UD Arena

Record: 3-0.

Seed: West Division No. 2.

Results: Beat East No. 3 Rhode Island 74-57; beat East No. 1 Saint Joseph’s 76-73; and beat East No. 2 Temple 79-72.

What Albers wrote on Game 1: Rust? Did anybody see any rust on the University of Dayton Flyers on Thursday night?

There wasn’t much.

Coach Oliver Purnell’s team hit Rhode Island with a Sunday punch in the first half, withstood a furious Rhody rally early in the second half and went on to a 74-57 victory in the quarterfinal round of the Atlantic 10 Conference Men’s Basketball Championship.

The victory, achieved in front of 10,897 enthusiastic fans at UD Arena, moved the Flyers into the semifinals for the second year in a row. Tonight at 9:30, they face Saint Joseph’s (23-5), which defeated La Salle, 68-48, in another Thursday night semifinal. The winner meets defending champion Xavier (25-4) or Temple (14-14) in the championship game Saturday at 6 p.m. The champion gets an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

“It’s Temple, Saint Joe’s, Xavier and Dayton left,” Purnell said. “That’s probably the way it should be.”

In their only meeting this season, Dayton defeated Saint Joseph’s, 66-56, at UD Arena on Feb. 15.

Keith Waleskowski scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Sean Finn added 15 points and 9 rebounds as the two big men sparked the Flyers, who got 11 points from Mark Jones, 10 from D.J. Stelly, 9 from Ramod Marshall, who had 7 assists, and 8 from Nate Green. Dustin Hellenga scored 18 points for the Rams, who finished the season at 18-11.

”We might have been a little anxious at the start, but after the first media timeout we settled down and got back to what worked for us this year,” Finn said. “Then we were able to go on a big run and take them out of the game.”

What Albers wrote on Game 2: University of Dayton basketball player D.J. Stelly said he didn’t foul Pat Carroll of Saint Joseph’s in the final seconds of UD’s breathtaking 76-73 victory over the Hawks on Friday night. The win put the Flyers into tonight’s Atlantic 10 Conference Championship game against Temple.

After Dayton’s Nate Green made the second of two free throws with 6.8 seconds remaining to give Dayton a 76-73 lead, Saint Joseph’s advanced the ball down the right side of the court to Carroll, who whirled away from his defender. As he turned, Stelly snatched the ball from him to preserve Dayton’s victory.

Saint Joseph’s coach Phil Martelli thought his team had been robbed. Twice he tried to enter the officials’ room, shouting obscenities. He was restrained by security and escorted back to the Hawks’ locker room.

“I saw him curling in,” Stelly said of Carroll. “Our defender — I don’t know who was guarding him — was kinda trailing him. I didn’t want to give him an opportunity for a good look, so I reached in and took it away. It (the ball) was right there. I just had to take it.”

Stelly’s steal prevented the Hawks from casting what could have been a game-tying 3-pointer.

The Flyers, now 23-5, will face Temple (15-14) tonight. In their eighth year as an A-10 member, the Flyers will be in the championship game for the first time.

The Owls, who were 2-8 after 10 games, upset 10th-ranked and defending champion Xavier, 63-57, ending the Musketeers’ 16-game winning string.

What Albers wrote on Game 3: It was a scene that no University of Dayton basketball team has experienced in 13 years.

Having snipped the last string holding the nylon net to the rim on the South end of UD Arena, Ramod Marshall swirled the net in the air before making a reck-lace of it.

The UD fans were chanting, “We are UDI” over and over.

Greg Kohls was “crowd surfing” a group of UD students celebrating in front of the team bench. Keith Waleskowski quietly filled a cup with water and showered his teammates with it.

They were celebrating Dayton’s first championship since 1990 when the Flyers beat Xavier for the Midwestern Collegiate Conference title.

The 22nd-ranked Flyers, completing a three-game sweep in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament, spoiled Temple University’s late-season bid for an NCAA Tournament berth and claimed one for themselves by defeating the Owls, 79-72, Saturday in front of a crowd of 11,537.

The Flyers, now 24-5, will get their NCAA tournament assignment today.

Credit: Chris Stewart

Credit: Chris Stewart

2004: UD Arena

Record: 2-1.

Seed: West No. 1.

Results: Beat West No. 5 Duquesne 69-56 in quarterfinals; beat West No. 3 Richmond 58-56 in semifinals; and lost 58-49 to West No. 4 Xavier in final.

What Albers wrote on Game 1: To say that the University of Dayton basketball team has Duquesne’s number would be a gross understatement. No matter how hard they play, the Dukes simply cannot beat the Flyers.

Unable to budge Duquesne for 35 minutes of a tug-of-war Thursday night at UD Arena, Dayton broke away in the last five minutes and advanced to the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament with a 69-56 victory. The Flyers will face Richmond tonight after Xavier takes on George Washington in the first game of a doubleheader.

Dayton’s victory was its 16th straight against Duquesne, which has lost 11 in a row at UD Arena over the last 21 years. The Dukes have given the Flyers a strong argument in their last five meetings, only to lose at the end. UD won close games with the Dukes in the regular season by scores of 70-58 and 73-69, and Wednesday’s war was much closer than the final score indicates. UD led by only two points (55-53) with 4:50 remaining.

What Albers wrote on Game 2: The University of Dayton Flyers, who have been forcing their fans to wait until the last minute to celebrate most of their victories this season, did it one more time Friday night.

A gut-wrenching 58-56 victory over Richmond in front of 11,566 spectators at UD Arena lifted Dayton into the championship game of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament.

After yielding a comfortable lead to Richmond’s trapping defense, the Flyers allowed the Spiders to tie the score at 52 with 2:18 remaining before squeezing out the two-point decision that probably clinched an NCAA tournament berth while putting them into tonight’s finale against Xavier.

Monty Scott’s layup with 26 seconds remaining gave Dayton a 57-54 lead and the necessary cushion to beat the Spiders — who have never beaten UD in Dayton — for the third time this season. The game ended with Richmond’s Tony Dobbins driving to the basket and missing a shot, grabbing his own rebound and missing a hurried fall-away jump shot on the baseline before the buzzer sounded.

Sean Finn scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the defending champion Flyers into the final. But the game was not without some anxiety for Finn, who made only three of eight free throws.

The West Division champion Flyers (24-7) will try to make it two A-10 tourney titles in succession when they meet red-hot Xavier (22-10) at 6:05 p.m. The winner gets the A-10′s automatic berth into the NCAA tournament. Dayton defeated Temple in the championship game last year and lost to Tulsa in a first-round NCAA game at Spokane, Wash.

“We’re very excited about advancing to the championship game,” UD coach Brian Gregory said, adding that the Dayton-Xavier matchup “is great for both programs” and a “great challenge” for the Flyers. Regarding UD’s chances of receiving an in vitation to the NCAA tournament, Gregory said, “We’re 24-7, we’ve won the West Division against the team we’re playing (today). I think we (the A-10) should get four teams in. That team we just played deserves to be in, too.”

What Albers wrote on Game 3: For the second straight day, the University of Dayton Flyers went stone cold in the homestretch. This time it cost them — big time.

Missing their last 11 shots and failing to get a basket in the last 8½ minutes, the Flyers were outscored, 15-3, by Xavier University. That enabled the Musketeers (23-10) to grab a 58-49 decision that gave them the Atlantic 10 Conference championship and an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.

Dayton (24-8), which won the A-10 West Division, now must wait until tonight to learn whether it will get an NCAA invitation.

“I would think that we’re in,” UD coach Brian Gregory said. “Nothing’s for sure, but at 24-8 and winning the West when all four teams in the semifinals were from the West ... We were 8-2 in the West.

“Xavier just won the league — and give them a lot of credit, they deserved to win this tournament — and they went 5-5 in the West. I think this is a four-bid league, and hopefully our name will be called Sunday so we can start getting ready to play in the first round.”

2005: U.S. Bank Arena, Cincinnati

Record: 1-1.

Seed: West No. 3.

Results: Beat East No. 6 St. Bonaventure 78-48; and lost to East No. 2 Temple 61-51.

What Albers wrote on Game 1: A concentrated effort on the defensive end resulted in the University of Dayton’s best offensive half of the season Wednesday night, and the Flyers crushed struggling Saint Bonaventure, 78-48, in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament.

A crowd of 5,872, including a large gathering of Dayton fans, watched at US Bank Arena as the the Flyers built a 22-point lead in the first half and added to it after the intermission.

UD Coach Brian Gregory began clearing his bench with 6: 21 remaining when Logan White made a rare appearance and was followed by walk-on Jeff Penno, who scored his first basket of the year with 1:05 remaining.

Three freshmen provided the bulk of the scoring for the Flyers, who got 18 points and six rebounds from forward Norman Plummer, 12 points and five rebounds from Brian Roberts and 10 points and five rebounds from Jimmy Binnie.

What Albers wrote on Game 2: There’ll be no NCAA Tournament for the Dayton Flyers this year. The Flyers spotted Temple a big lead Thursday night in an Atlantic 10 Conference tournament quarterfinal game and then fell short in a comeback bid, losing to the Owls, 61-51, at US Bank Arena.

The loss not only knocked the Flyers (18-11) out of contention for an NCAA berth but seriously reduced UD’s chances of playing in the National Invitation Tournament. The NIT field will be announced after the NCAA chooses its 65-team field on Sunday. If the Flyers fail to earn a postseason berth, it will end a string of five straight years in which they played in the NCAA or the NIT.

UD coach Brian Gregory wouldn’t offer a guess as to whether Dayton will be selected for the NIT.

“Our team has really worked hard, and I think it would be something that would really help our program,.” Gregory said. “It would be big for those kids to be able to play in the postseason.”

2006: U.S. Bank Arena, Cincinnati

Record: 0-1.

Seed: No. 12.

Result: Lost 67-55 to No. 5 Saint Joseph’s in first round.

What Albers wrote: For the first time in nine years, the University of Dayton Flyers failed to survive the first round of the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament.

Their 67-55 loss to Saint Joseph’s Wednesday at US Bank Arena was a microcosm of a disappointing season that ended with a 14-17 record. Dayton was 18-11 last season.

After falling 14 points behind the hot-shooting Hawks in the first half, Dayton reduced the deficit to 48-46 in the second half only to make back-to-back turnovers that enabled Saint Joseph’s to go on a 9-0 run that clinched the victory.

The Flyers fell into one of their all-too-familiar scoring droughts, going 4:10 without a point and 11:27 without a field goal. They shot 32.1 percent (18-56). Leading scorer Brian Roberts made only 2 of 14 shots and scored 11 points.

“We had some opportunities but — the story of the season — we couldn’t get it over the hump,” UD coach Brian Gregory said.”

2007: Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, N.J.

Record: 1-1.

Seed: No. 8.

Results: Beat No. 9 Charlotte 81-63 in first round; and lost 72-51 to No. 1 Xavier in quarterfinals.

What Doug Harris wrote on Game 1: The University of Dayton advanced past the first round of the Atlantic 10 tournament Wednesday, putting together its highest-scoring half of the season while notching its third straight win.

But the Flyers (19-11) lost another stalwart along the way, and the foe awaiting them in the quarterfinals — archrival Xavier — isn’t likely to offer much sympathy.

Already shorthanded after starter Monty Scott suffered a knee injury last month, the Flyers suffered another setback when top sub Marcus Johnson sprained his left ankle and was helped off the court with 5:49 to go in an 81-63 win over Charlotte.

Although X-rays didn’t show any fracture, UD coach Brian Gregory said the freshman won’t play at noon today against Xavier, leaving the Flyers without a pair of perimeter players who were second and third in average minutes per game.

“If I twist an ankle, usually I can get up and run it off,” Johnson said. “This one, I couldn’t even walk on it.”

But Gregory expects his remaining players to exhibit the same fight they’ve had since losing Scott, their lone senior, on Feb. 18. “This team has had multiple opportunities to say, ‘Let’s worry about next year.’ But they didn’t do that,” Gregory said.

As for the meeting with top-seeded Xavier (23-7), Gregory said: “I think the biggest thing for us is it’s an opportunity to take another step closer to where we want to go. We’re not going to get caught up in playing Xavier. At this time of year, what matters is we’re in the second round with a chance to advance.”

What Harris wrote on Game 2: The University of Dayton basketball team needed someone to carry more of the scoring load in the absence of two valuable perimeter players, and junior guard Brian Roberts did his best to oblige.

He knifed to the basket for buckets, connected on a few rainbows from long range and dispelled the notion arising from two earlier subpar meetings that he was no match for Xavier’s bigger, stronger defenders.

He whistled in 22 points, about four above his average, in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament Thursday, but the top-seeded Musketeers managed to pull out a 72-51 victory because they had the Flyers’ star outnumbered.

Senior forward Justin Doellman had 19 points to lead five Xavier players in double figures, while junior point guard Drew Lavender had 13 points, nine assists and just one turnover.

“You can’t ask for more than what (Roberts) gave us today,” UD coach Brian Gregory said. “But with our injuries, you need everyone to play that well if you want to have a chance, and we didn’t do that.”

UD was playing without top wing sub Marcus Johnson, who sprained his left ankle in a firstround win over Charlotte and watched the game on crutches. The freshman was averaging just 6.6 points per game, but he was third in minutes played and was the team’s top perimeter defender.

Starting wing Monty Scott, who was second on the team in minutes played and had averaged 10 points, missed the last six games with a knee injury, leaving UD with a seven-player rotation.

2008: Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, N.J.

Record: 1-1.

Seed: No. 8.

Results: Beat No. 9 Saint Louis 63-62 in first round; and lost 74-65 to No. 1 Xavier in quarterfinals.

What Harris wrote on Game 1: Brian Roberts’ father was obviously troubled after watching his son become a nonfactor against Saint Louis, and he pulled Dayton coach Brian Gregory aside for a quick conference, asking him to tell the player to be more offensive-minded.

But Nolan Roberts Jr. isn’t the only one who wants to see the senior guard take a few more shots.

“So does every Dayton fan around,” Gregory said.

Fighting a box-and-one defense, Roberts went just 2-of-4 from the field and had as many points as turnovers (five) in the Flyers’ 63-62 overtime victory in the Atlantic 10 tournament Wednesday, March 12.

“Brian could have been more aggressive on some of those, but this proves again we’re a much better team than we were a month ago or two months ago,” Gregory said. “If Brian only had five points then, we didn’t have a chance to win the game.”

What Harris wrote on Game 2: Brian Roberts misses free throws about as often as George Clooney gets turned down for a date, but the senior guard finally caught a malady that has affected most of his Dayton teammates: faulty foul shooting.

The Flyers played with the fire befitting a team that had an NCAA tournament berth at stake, but they went 2-for-8 during a four-minute stretch late in the game as Xavier pulled away.

Roberts, who leads the Atlantic 10 in free-throw shooting at 87.3 percent, missed both ends of a double-bonus in that span on Thursday, March 13.

“Free throws are pretty much a mental thing,” Roberts said. “You have to focus in and try to make the shot. We weren’t out there trying to miss them. But that’s probably cost us a couple games this year.”

2009: Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, N.J.

Record: 1-1.

Seed: No. 3.

Results: Beat No. 6 Richmond 69-64 in quarterfinals; and lost 77-66 to No. 7 Duquesne in semifinals.

What Harris wrote on Game 1: Dayton might have needed a win to lock up an NCAA tournament bid. And having taken care of that matter in its usual notalways-polished style, the team put itself in position to make a run at winning another tourney before it gets to that.

Marcus Johnson scored 15 points and buried two 3-pointers in a 38-second span to break open a tight game as the Flyers advanced to the Atlantic 10 semifinals for the first time in five years with a 69-64 win over Richmond on Thursday, March 12.

They’ll play Duquesne (20-11) — a team they beat twice in the regular season — at 9 p.m. today. Xavier (25-6) and Temple (20-11) meet in the other semifinal at 6:30 p.m.

The Flyers had a 48-40 lead with 11 minutes to go on a drive by London Warren. Richmond (18-15) scored four straight, but Luke Fabrizius swished a 3-pointer (his third), and Paul Williams made two free throws for a ninepoint bulge with 8:39 left.

The Flyers, though, scored just one point on their next four possessions, and the Spiders came roaring back. A 3-pointer by Kevin Anderson (24 points) cut the deficit to 54-53 with 6:32 to go.

But Johnson knocked down consecutive treys to put UD back in charge with 5:12 to go. And Charles Little’s dunk off a Chris Wright assist pushed the lead to eight again.

“We won this game with defense, rebounding and our scrappiness,” UD coach Brian Gregory said. “Sometimes it ain’t pretty, but for 26 games it’s worked.”

What Harris wrote on Game 2: The Duquesne University basketball team didn’t like how it felt when Dayton turned the Dukes’ previous two games into track meets. This time, Duquesne played at a pace you might find on a walking trail at a retirement village.

Spreading the floor and bleeding the shot clock on most possessions, the seventh-seeded Dukes knocked down 10 3-pointers and rolled to an easy 77-66 win in the Atlantic 10 tournament semifinals before 6,160 fans at Boardwalk Hall here Friday, March 13, preventing the third-seeded Flyers from adding any final touches to their already substantial NCAA tournament credentials.

Trailing by six at halftime, the Flyers (26-7) quickly cut the deficit to three, but Melquan Bolding led a 3-point onslaught with seven bombs in 10 tries as the Dukes built a 61-45 lead with just under seven minutes to go. UD could never get closer than nine after that.

Duquesne (21-11) will face Temple (21-11) for the A-10 tourney crown and an automatic NCAA bid at 6 p.m. today on ESPN2.

“We knew if we played an extended game with these guys, we didn’t have a chance,” Duquesne coach Ron Everhart said. “That’s what we talked about after the Rhode Island game (Thursday). They’re a whole different animal.”

2010: Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, N.J.

Record: 1-1.

Seed: No. 7.

Results: Beat No. 10 George Washington 70-60 in first round; and lost 78-73 to No. 2 Xavier in quarterfinals.

What Harris wrote on Game 1: The seniors on the University of Dayton basketball team organized a players-only meeting Tuesday, March 9, to wipe away any lingering self-doubts after the crippling home loss to Saint Louis three days earlier. But while the cathartic powwow was meant to get everyone for the Atlantic 10 tournament, sophomore Paul Williams found himself ready to suit up at the Flyers’ awards banquet Sunday.

“It didn’t really hit me until the banquet that I’m not going to play with these (seniors) again,” he said. “I was feeling so sad, taking pictures with each other. I was ready to go right now.

“In my mind, I was like, ‘I can’t let them go out like this. I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure I leave it all on the court for these guys.’ If we’ve got 16 guys doing that — 20 with the coaches — it’s going to be hard to beat us.”

The Flyers were a unified bunch in a 70-60 first-round win over George Washington before a sparse but vocal crowd of 6,930. The attendance total was the lowest for the program in 40 seasons at UD Arena.

Marcus Johnson had 16 points, Chris Johnson and Rob Lowery 11 each and Williams 10 for UD (20-11), which advanced to the quarterfinals and will meet rival Xavier on Friday.

What Harris wrote on Game 2: Dayton hasn’t been able to come up with crunch-time answers most of the season, having played in eight games decided by five points or fewer since Jan. 1 and losing them all.

The Flyers were in that same position against Xavier in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament Friday, March 12, but they’ll never know whether somebody would have delivered in the clutch. A technical foul on point guard Rob Lowery put the game out of reach before anyone had a chance to try.

The Flyers built a 15-point lead midway through the second half, but their NCAA tournament hopes were incinerated when the Musketeers stormed to a 23-5 run over a nine-minute stretch for a 78-73 victory.

Xavier (24-7) took a 69-66 lead on a three-point play by Terrell Holloway with 1:22 to go. UD (20-12), likely NIT-bound, cut it to one on a drive by Chris Wright (17 points).

Jordan Crawford then made one of two free throws with 36.5 seconds to go for a two-point lead, setting up the drama with Lowery with 33.6 seconds left. As the UD senior was signaling for a timeout, Holloway tried to knock the ball away, and Lowery threw a punch that hit Holloway in the chest.

Because the technical occurred during a dead ball, Xavier was given two free throws and possession. Holloway made both for a four-point lead. On the ensuing possession, UD again fouled Holloway, and he made two more with 32.4 seconds to go.

UD coach Brian Gregory said he didn’t see the play and couldn’t assess whether the refs made the right judgment, but he did say he thought they were late in stopping play after Lowery’s signal, which led to the problem.

Lowery, who had 14 points, was distraught afterward.

“I cost us the game, that’s how I feel,” he said.

He wasn’t the only player, though, who was culpable.

“For 32 or 31 minutes of the game, I thought we played pretty darn good,” Gregory said. “Unfortunately, some of the things that have haunted us all year came back. We were loose with the ball (18 turnovers), we were out of position on defense and we couldn’t get key rebounds or stops when we needed them.”

2011: Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, N.J.

Record: 3-1.

Seed: No. 9.

Results: Beat No. 8 UMass 78-50 in first round; beat No. 1 Xavier 68-67 in quarterfinals; beat No. 12 Saint Joseph’s 64-61 in semifinals; and lost 67-54 to No. 3 Richmond in final.

What Harris wrote on Game 1: Luke Fabrizius fired from beyond the 3-point line and swished a bomb as a defender was crashing into him. After picking himself off the floor, the reserve forward stepped to the foul line and completed a four-point play.

Fabrizius was flashing his old form against UMass on Tuesday, and his University of Dayton teammates displayed many of their positive traits that have been scarcely seen during a late-season swoon.

Getting 45 points from their bench, the Flyers coasted to a 78-50 win in the first round of Atlantic 10 tournament. The ninth-seeded Flyers will play top-seeded Xavier at noon Friday in Atlantic City.

The bench brigade of Fabrizius (13 points), Josh Parker (11) and Brandon Spearman (nine) helped UD build a 37-16 first-half lead and break a three-game losing streak. The Flyers (20-12), who led by as many as 30, shot 53 percent from the field while posting their fourth straight 20-win season.

“The main thing we wanted to do was bring energy,” Fabrizius said. “We haven’t been doing that. … We just wanted to come out and play hard.

“We were so ready. We did a great job of sharing the ball. That was a key.”

What Harris wrote on Game 2: Tu Holloway had already helped Xavier pin two demoralizing losses on Dayton this season, and UD coach Brian Gregory was going to do what he could to make sure it didn’t happen again.

Leading by one with 5.8 seconds to go, the Flyers set up a 94-foot obstacle course for the Atlantic 10 player of the year. Juwan Staten first deflected a backcourt pass, and when Holloway scooped it and began racing up the floor, UD’s Chris Wright was waiting there to greet him.

“I talked to another A-10 coach, and he called him an assassin, and that’s what he is,” Gregory said.

“We wanted to corral him and jump him and double team him. There wasn’t a lot of time left. Juwan did a great job of disrupting that hand-off, which threw off their rhythm, and Chris did a great job recognizing him being open and did enough to force a difficult shot to win the game.”

Holloway’s 40-footer at the buzzer bounced off the backboard, setting off a joyous celebration among the Flyers, who advanced to the A-10 tourney semifinals with a 68-67 upset of the top-seeded Musketeers on Friday at Boardwalk Hall.

The ninth-seeded Flyers (21-12), who shot 61.5 percent on 3-pointers (8-for-13) and 52 percent overall, will next play 12th-seeded Saint Joseph’s, which upset Duquesne, 93-90 in OT.

What Harris wrote on Game 3: University of Dayton players were detained a little longer than usual to fulfill their media obligations after advancing in the Atlantic 10 tournament — not that they minded.

CBS wanted to have some sound bites ready for its broadcast of the A-10 final today. And having not had any games outside of the NCAA tournament carried by network TV since Ed Young’s famous bank shot upended DePaul in 1984, the Flyers certainly were willing to delay their post-game showers if it meant extra exposure for the program.

“To play on national TV on CBS — you dream about that, and our guys dream about that,” UD coach Brian Gregory said. “It’s a great opportunity for us. The most important thing is we show how we do things, and that’s playing with that blue-collar, hard-nosed, high-energy style.”

The ninth-seeded Flyers showed that competitive spirit in slipping past 12th-seeded Saint Joseph’s, 64-61, in the semifinals at Boardwalk Hall on Saturday. They managed to build a 13-point second-half lead and survived some shoddy offense down the stretch to hang on for their third trip to the final since joining the league in 1995.

They’ll play for an A-10 title and automatic NCAA berth against third-seeded Richmond, which upset No. 25 Temple, 58-54. The Flyers (22-11) are the highest-seeded team to reach the finals since 10th-seeded Xavier won the crown in Cincinnati in 2006.

“We’re just playing hard. We don’t want to have any regrets, saying what we should have done,” guard Paul Williams said. “After 40 minutes, we want to say we’ve given it our all.”

What Harris wrote on Game 4: Kevin Anderson hit the deck after losing his dribble, picked it up, spun on the floor and tossed a perfect lead pass off his back to teammate Justin Harper for a dunk.

The standout Richmond guard displayed his fundamental basketball skills every chance he could and showed he knew how to improvise during plays where he couldn’t in dousing Dayton’s dream of reaching the NCAA tournament Sunday.

The 6-foot senior scored 23 points in a 67-54 win in the Atlantic 10 tournament final before 5,802 fans at Boardwalk Hall, earning MVP honors. The Spiders (27-7) set a school record for wins and claimed the league’s automatic NCAA bid the Flyers (22-13) so desperately sought.

“On a short prep, our guys did a very good job of guarding their stuff,” UD coach Brian Gregory said. “But no matter how well you play defensively, they have a guy in Kevin Anderson who can get a shot any time he wants. ... He controlled the game in the second half when we were making some runs. That’s a great luxury to have.”

Anderson, the 2010 A-10 player of the year, has set the A-10 record with six 20-point games in the tourney.

“I didn’t know how to celebrate (afterward). All I knew to do was smile,” he said. “I was at a loss for words. To see my mom and stepdad in the stands made me proud. And for the fans to travel from Richmond means a lot.”

Chris Johnson had 11 points, Juwan Staten 10 and Chris Wright and Paul Williams eight each to pace UD, which made just 3-of-14 3-pointers and never could get its transition game going.

2011: Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, N.J.

Record: 1-1.

Seed: No. 6.

Results: Beat No. 11 George Washington 67-50 in first round; and lost 70-69 to No. 3 Xavier in quarterfinals.

What Harris wrote on Game 1: The chants from the crowd began as the University of Dayton basketball team was wrapping up a first-round win in the Atlantic 10 tournament Tuesday: “We want Xavier … We want Xavier.”

The Flyers delivered what their fans had been hoping to see since the A-10 pairings were announced. Despite an untidy 17 turnovers and a few anxious moments, they managed to subdue George Washington, 67-50, to set up UD-X III in the quarterfinals at 9 p.m. Friday in Atlantic City, N.J.

The Flyers beat the Musketeers at home, 87-72, and lost in the Cintas Center, 86-83, in overtime.

“We’re going to prepare the right way, go down to Atlantic City and try to take care of business,” junior point guard Kevin Dillard said. “I feel we definitely had a good game both times. The third time, we’re expecting the same thing. We’re expecting a war.”

Sophomore wing Devin Oliver notched a career-high 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds to help UD improve to 20-11, its fifth-straight 20-win season.

What Harris wrote on Game 2: University of Dayton basketball coach Archie Miller told his players in the postgame locker room not to dwell on the stinging defeat.

But by the look of the Flyers’ long faces and drooped shoulders, a crushing loss to Xavier may be one that haunts them for a while.

Tu Holloway scored 21 points and Mark Lyons scored the team’s last seven as the Musketeers overcame a six-point deficit in the final 3:02 to pull out a 70-69 win in the Atlantic 10 tournament quarterfinals Friday night.

Lyons scored five straight points to cut the gap to one with 2:09 left. Chris Johnson missed a long 3-pointer as the shot clock was winding down, and Lyons gave Xavier a one-point lead on a drive with 20.3 seconds left. UD called a timeout with 16.8 to go.

Matt Kavanaugh had an inside half-hook spin off the rim after a pass from Kevin Dillard, but the ball went out of bounds to UD with 5.3 left. After timeouts by both teams, Johnson couldn’t connect on a challenged 15-footer from the baseline, which Xavier rebounded as time ran out.

“At the end of the day, it was another hard-fought game,” Miller said. “Our guys were ready to play, and they played extremely hard. We had our lapses and let them get to the basket in the second half. In the first half, we were able to make them passers.

“Put this one on me. If you’re going to blame anyone, put it right on the coach. I feel like when you’re six up and call timeout after timeout after timeout, you’ve got to be able to get quality shots. We didn’t. That to me is coaching.”

The Flyers (20-12) are hoping for an NIT bid. Kenny Frease had 17 and Lyons 12 for the Musketeers (20-11), who kept their NCAA tournament hopes alive.

2013: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Record: 0-1.

Seed: No. 12.

Results: Lost 73-67 to No. 5 Butler in first round.

What Harris wrote on Game 1: When Dayton coach Archie Miller was an assistant at Arizona State, one of his recruiting targets was Rotnei Clarke, a 3-point phenom from a little hamlet in Oklahoma.

He made three trips to court Clarke but wasn’t able to charm him enough to keep him from going to Arkansas. And while Miller may have been able then to shrug off that recruiting setback, it came back to haunt him and the Flyers in the first round of the Atlantic 10 tournament Thursday.

Clarke eventually migrated to Butler after a coaching change, and the first-team All-Atlantic 10 pick made 6-of-12 three-pointers and scored 20 points in sending UD to a 73-67 defeat.

“He’s one of those rare guys that you can’t help but appreciate his game because you know he’s worked his butt off to get there,” Miller said. “He can beat anyone on a given night, depending on how you’re locked in defensively. If he’s hot, you’re at his mercy.”

The senior guard was hot — making them whether he was covered or not — and so were his teammates. The Bulldogs (25-7) finished 10-of-24 on 3′s, even getting a pair from 6-foot-11 Andrew Smith (18 points) and another from backup post Erik Fromm.

“They got three big 3′s from their centers. That’s sort of the way the ball has bounced for us this season,” Miller said. “When you’re relying on percentages and numbers and you’re game-planning who’s going to beat you ... I thought their 5 men did a really nice job.”

Josh Benson scored 18 points to lead the Flyers (17-14). Kevin Dillard had 15 (13 in the second half ), Dyshawn Pierre 12 and Vee Sanford 11.

2014: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Record: 1-1.

Seed: No. 5.

Results: Beat No. 13 Fordham 87-74 in second round; and lost 70-67 to No. 4 Saint Joseph’s in quarterfinals.

What Jablonski wrote on Game 1: Vee Sanford put the V in victory and added the rest of the letters as well.

The Dayton senior claimed he was far from perfect after an 87-74 victory over Fordham on Thursday in the second round of the Atlantic 10 tournament. In this game, however, that’s just what he was: 9 of 9 from the fi eld, 2 of 2 free throws, 23 points, four rebounds, an assist and no turnovers in 23 minutes.

That’s a stat line a player would dream about his whole career. The guard from Lexington, Ky., did it in the game that might have clinched a spot in the NCAA tournament for the Flyers.

Sports Illustrated’s and CBS Sports’ Seth Davis, for one, thinks this victory did just that.

“Dayton, NCAA Tournament, Sharpie,” he wrote on Twitter.

Some experts will say No. 5 seed Dayton (23-9) still needs to beat No. 4 seed Saint Joseph’s (21-9) in the quarterfinals at 2:30 p.m. today to clinch a spot. That might be the case. For at least a few moments Thursday, though, the Flyers could relish their 10th victory in the last 11 games.

Devin Oliver scored 17 points, Jordan Sibert had 14 and Dyshawn Pierre added 12. Sanford out-shined them all. He fell one made field goal short of becoming the third player in Dayton history to shoot at least 10 shots and make them all.

“Just a good night,” Sanford said. “I’m glad my teammates could find me.”

What Jablonski wrote on Game 2: Saint Joseph’s still had Dayton’s number when push came to shove, and it did come to a push, or a shove, or whatever you want to call it.

Flyer fans will have plenty of words — few of them printable — to describe what happened with 19 seconds left Friday in the quarterfi nals of the Atlantic 10 tournament. Saint Joseph’s Langston Galloway, channeling Michael Jordan (circa 1998 against the Jazz’s Bryon Russell), planted a forearm in the chest of Dayton freshman Kyle Davis, propelling Davis backward. Galloway then stepped back to hit the game-winning 3-pointer at the Barclays Center.

Dayton’s Devin Oliver missed a 3-pointer with four seconds left, leaving the Flyers with a 70-67 defeat when a victory would have all but sealed their NCAA tournament fate. Now they play the waiting game, hoping all they did in the first 32 games will get them into the big dance for the first time since 2009 when the bracket is announced Sunday evening.

Forty eight hours will last an eternity as the Flyers (23-10) ponder a play forever to be known as The Push.

“It could have gone both ways,” Dayton forward Dyshawn Pierre said. “We thought it was a push-off. At the end of the day, that’s a really good team. That’s a really good shot. It’s a tough shot.”

Dayton coach Archie Miller paused before offering a politically-correct take.

“It could go either way,” he said. “The referees did a good job. It was a well-officiated game. We had a great crew on the game. If you ask me what did I see, I felt like he got some space. Now is every referee going to call that call with that much on the line? Probably not. Let the kids finish it out.”

2015: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Record: 2-1.

Seed: No. 2 seed.

Results: Beat No. 7 St. Bonaventure 75-71 in quarterfinals; beat No. 3 Rhode Island 56-52 in semifinals; and lost 71-65 to No. 5 VCU in final.

What Jablonski wrote on Game 1: Dayton sophomore guard Scoochie Smith ran into an old high school friend on his walk with the Flyers to practice Thursday in Brooklyn. It’s a small world but a big city, so this was a chance meeting even for the Bronx native playing close to home.

There was nothing lucky about Smith’s performance Friday. He had 11 points, six assists, three steals and no turnovers in 37 minutes as Dayton beat St. Bonaventure 75-71 in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament at the Barclays Center.

“Scooch was great,” Dayton coach Archie Miller said. “He played like a true point guard. His pace up and down the floor was terrific. He got a couple big free throws on pushes. Just in general he played really well, I thought.”

Another Dayton sophomore, Kendall Pollard, scored a career-high 26 points. His previous career high was 23 against Davidson in January. He made 11 of 16 shots from the field.

What Jablonski wrote on Game 2: Dayton coach Archie Miller smirked when the question arose in the postgame press conference about whether his team is tired.

For stretches of the game Saturday against Rhode Island, the Flyers did look gassed. At key moments, though, they looked possessed by a determination to win, and win they did, 56-52 against Rhode Island in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament at the Barclays Center.

The players also shot down the idea they might be fatigued by playing on consecutive days.

“No, we don’t get tired,” guard Jordan Sibert said.

“Can’t afford to get tired,” guard Scoochie Smith said.

Today the Flyers play Virginia Commonwealth for the championship.

Player of the game: Bobby Wehrli hit Dayton’s only two 3-pointers. He had eight points on 3-for-3 shooting and added four rebounds in 20 minutes. He didn’t lead the team in either category, but when the former walk-on contributes like that, it’s a huge bonus for the Flyers.

Plays of the game: Sibert made two Michael Jordan-like reverse layups late in the game. He had four points during a 6-0 run that broke a 47-47 tie with under three minutes to play.

What Jablonski wrote on Game 3: Virginia Commonwealth won the Atlantic 10 tournament on its third try after losing in the championship game the last two seasons.

Dayton hopes its experience Sunday in a 71-65 loss to the Rams at the Barclays Center in the A-10 final pays dividends in future seasons.

“We want to make this a habit,” said guard Scoochie Smith of the team’s tournament run.

Dayton coach Archie Miller said it hurts, but he told the players after the game, “if you had told me at the beginning of the season you’ll play for the regular season title and the conference championship title, would you take it? Yeah, absolutely. We were in those positions.

“Today and last week’s loss against La Salle are the building blocks to getting through the wall, so to speak, to win the championship of this league. That’s what we want to do. That’s why these guys come here.”

Player of the game: Treveon Graham still isn’t fully recovered from a sprained ankle, but it’s not slowing him down too much He scored 20 against the Flyers on 6-of-14 shooting and had 13 rebounds.

Turning point: Scoochie Smith turned the ball over with 56 seconds left. Dayton trailed by two at that point, and the teams had been trading baskets. VCU converted the turnover into a layup and led by four. The Flyers never got closer than two points again.

2016: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Record: 1-1.

Seed: No. 1.

Results: Beat No. 9 Richmond 69-54 in quarterfinals; and lost 82-79 to No. 4 Saint Joseph’s in semifinals.

What Jablonski wrote on Game 1: Point guard Scoochie Smith introduced his Dayton Flyers teammates to a New York City delicacy Thursday: the chopped-cheese sandwich. It’s ground beef with cheese on a roll. Smith prefers his with mayonnaise or ketchup with lettuce.

Smith took some teammates to a corner deli near the team hotel in Brooklyn. For forward Dyshawn Pierre, it was love at first bite.

“He wanted one this morning,” Smith said Friday, “but it’s not breakfast.”

Smith and the top-seeded Flyers ate well away from the court as they prepared for the Atlantic 10 Tournament and feasted on the court in the quarterfinals Friday, leading from start to finish in a 69-54 victory over No. 9 seed Richmond at the Barclays Center.

Dayton (25-6) advanced to a 1:30 p.m. semifinal today against No. 4 seed Saint Joseph’s (25-7), which rallied from a 16-point deficit to beat No. 5 George Washington 86-80.

Dayton led Richmond 20-4 after 11 minutes and never let the Spiders (16-16) closer than 11 points the rest of the way. The Flyers stretched a 33-20 halftime lead to 42-22 with a 9-2 run to start the second half.

What Jablonski wrote on Game 2: The Dayton Flyers’ stretch of futility in the Atlantic 10 tournament will reach 14 years by the time they get another chance in 2017 at the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh.

Dayton became the ninth No. 1 seed in the last 11 years to fail to win the title, falling 82-79 to No. 4 seed St. Joseph’s on Saturday in the semifinals at the Barclays Center. The Flyers haven’t won the title since 2003. They’ve lost in the final three times since then.

The tournament won’t return to Brooklyn until 2019. After Pittsburgh hosts it in 2017, it moves to the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., in 2018.

“Congratulations to St. Joe’s,” Dayton coach Archie Miller said. “Fantastic team. Really, really difficult to defend, especially from a front-court perspective with the way they shoot the ball. They made 10 3s and some timely ones, especially at the end of the game. … I was proud of our guys, though, in terms of what we’ve been doing here the last couple weeks. We really wanted to play for the championship. I think this Atlantic 10 championship at Barclays is something special, and it’s great for our league. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to wait a couple more years to get back here to try it again.”

2017: PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh

Record: 0-1.

Seed: No. 1.

Results: Lost 73-67 to No. 9 Davidson in quarterfinals.

What Jablonski wrote: Scoochie Smith, Kyle Davis and the rest of the Dayton Flyers stood still on the court, disbelief etched on their faces, as the final seconds ticked away Friday at PPG Paints Arena.

This was not in the script. No one on the Dayton bench, especially the four seniors, thought their Atlantic 10 careers would end this way. A Dayton team that made its reputation for toughness in the final minutes ran into a team determined to change the story line.

Mostly, the Flyers ran into an Ohioan named Jack Gibbs. The Davidson senior star from Westerville made two 3-pointers in the final minute as the No. 9 seed Wildcats upset the top-seeded Flyers 73-67 in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

The big shots by Gibbs, who scored 34 points, came two weeks after Smith saved the Flyers with three 3-pointers in overtime at Davidson.

“He’s a really good player,” Smith said. “He’s dominant in the offense, and if you let him get going, results are going to happen like they did today.”

Credit: David Jablonski - Staff Writer

Credit: David Jablonski - Staff Writer

2018: Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.

Record: 0-1.

Seed: No. 9.

Result: Lost 77-72 to No. 8 VCU in second round.

What Jablonski wrote: The season ended Thursday as it began for the Dayton Flyers — with everything hanging on a lob pass to Josh Cunningham.

Four months after Xeyrius Williams found Cunningham under the basket for a buzzer-beating shot in a victory against Ball State in coach Anthony Grant’s first game, Jalen Crutcher lofted a pass to Cunningham. The Flyers trailed Virginia Commonwealth 72-70 with 34 seconds to play. Cunningham caught the ball but had it stripped away by Mike’l Simms.

VCU’s Malik Crowfield grabbed the loose ball. Then the Rams secured a 77-72 victory in the second round of the Atlantic 10 tournament with four free throws in the final 20 seconds.

With that, Dayton’s slim chance of extending its streaks of 11 straight winning seasons and four straight NCAA tournament appearances ended. The Flyers finished 14-17, the same record they had in 2005-06, the last time they had a losing season. It’s Dayton’s second losing season in the last 19 years.

Senior guard Darrell Davis, the last remaining Flyer who had played in a NCAA Tournament victory, left the court for the final time with hopes that better days lie ahead for his program.

Davis planned to get on the bus after the game and talk to his younger teammates, telling them, “You guys, don’t worry about anything. You’ve got a great backcourt coming in. You’ve got a great nucleus. You’re going to be a good team in these years to come. Just stay focused and keep working.”

Credit: David Jablonski - Staff Writer

Credit: David Jablonski - Staff Writer

2019: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Record: 0-1.

Seed: No. 3.

Result: Lost 64-55 to No. 6 Saint Louis in quarterfinals.

What Jablonski wrote: A path to the NCAA tournament opened for the Dayton Flyers on Friday afternoon when No. 1 seed Virginia Commonwealth and No. 5 seed George Mason, the only teams they did not beat in Atlantic 10 Conference play, lost their quarterfinal games.

All No. 3 seed Dayton had to do was win three games in three days — easier said than done, of course, for a program that has never won a conference tournament on a neutral court — against teams it knew it could beat to clinch the league’s automatic bid.

Dayton fans familiar with their team’s recent postseason failures had reason to curb their optimism, and their worst fears were realized late Friday night in a 64-55 quarterfinal loss to No. 6 seed Saint Louis at the Barclays Center.

“It hurts,” Dayton guard Jordan Davis said. “We wanted to win the whole thing.”

“Last year, this happened,” Dayton point guard Jalen Crutcher said. “We lost the first game. We tried. We went out there and we tried our best not to lose, but we’ve got to live with the results.”

Saint Louis pulled ahead early in the second half and answered Dayton’s late comeback attempt with a game-deciding 9-0 run starting at the 4:20 mark. The NCAA tournament dream died then. The NIT dream, if you want to call it that, began.

2021: Siegel Center, Richmond, Va.

Record: 1-1.

Seed: No. 7.

Result: Beat No. 10 Rhode Island 84-72 in second round; and lost 73-68 to No. 2 VCU in quarterfinals.

What Jablonski wrote on Game 1: Dayton Flyers coach Anthony Grant found Rhode Island senior guard Fatts Russell after the game at the Siegel Center on Thursday and gave him a long hug — a rare sight these days.

All season long because of COVID-19 protocols, teams have avoided handshake lines and postgame pleasantries, waving goodbye from opposite ends of the court before heading to the locker room. This was a moment, however, that called for something extra.

“I know the type of competitor he is,” Grant said. “His heart, the way he competes, I’ve got a lot of respect for him.”

Dayton advanced by winning an A-10 tournament game for the first time since 2016 when it beat Richmond 69-54 in the quarterfinals. It lost 73-67 to Davidson in the quarterfinals as the No. 1 seed in 2017, lost 77-72 to VCU in the second round in 2018, Grant’s first season, and 64-55 to Saint Louis in the quarterfinals as the No. 3 seed in 2019. The 2020 tournament was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Against Rhode Island, Dayton seized control first with an 8-0 run to end the first half, building a 40-31 halftime lead. Then after Rhode Island cut Dayton’s lead to 56-55 with 11:15 to play, Dayton started another 8-0 run with a 3-point play by Zimi Nwokeji. A 3-pointer by Koby Brea ended that spurt.

What Jablonski wrote on Game 2: One Atlantic 10 Conference team will cut down the net at UD Arena on March 14. It won’t be the Dayton Flyers. It very well could be Virginia Commonwealth.

VCU looked like the league’s best team Friday and proved for the third time it is much better than Dayton, ending Dayton’s A-10 championship dream with a 73-68 victory in the quarterfinals at the Siegel Center. VCU beat Dayton three times by a combined 37 points.

This game was the closest of all three, but the final score was deceiving. Dayton trimmed a 19-point deficit to single digits in the final minutes but never got close enough to give VCU a serious scare.

No. 2 seed VCU (18-6) advanced to the semifinals. It will play No. 3 seed Davidson or No. 6 George Mason at 9 p.m. Saturday at the Siegel Center.

No. 7 seed Dayton (14-9) saw its season end — barring an NIT bid — with another lackluster performance. The Flyers will not play in the NCAA tournament for the fourth straight year. That streak would have ended last year if not for the coronavirus pandemic.

Credit: David Jablonski

Credit: David Jablonski

2022: Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.

Record: 1-1.

Seed: No. 2.

Results: Beat No. 10 UMass 75-72 in quarterfinals; and lost 68-64 to No. 6 Richmond in semifinals.

What Jablonski wrote on Game 1: Dayton Flyers forward DaRon Holmes II did not attend the postgame press conference Friday. That was unusual considering he scored a career-high 28 points in a 75-72 victory against No. 10 seed Massachusetts in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament at Capital One Arena.

Holmes had a good reason for not joining coach Anthony Grant, Toumani Camara and R.J. Blakney on the podium. He spent close to 30 minutes after the game getting fluids through an IV from longtime Dayton trainer Mike Mulcahey.

By the time Holmes II emerged from the locker room — minutes after teammate Malachi Smith, who also needed an IV after cramping issues — he was feeling much better.

“I don’t know what it was,” Holmes said. “I drank some Gatorade right before I ran out there, and it wasn’t sitting well in my stomach. I was cramping pretty bad. Now I’m feeling great.”

Holmes left the court with his arm around the shoulders of assistant coach Ricardo Greer, who supported him on the walk to the locker room, but he had the energy to hand out high fives to other members of the staff.

Even though he wasn’t feeling 100 percent, Holmes played the best game of his freshman career. He made 12 of 15 field goals and also had five rebounds and three blocks. His 80 percent field-goal percentage was the seventh-best in A-10 tournament history.

“I just try to read what the defense gives us, and they decided to put one defender on me,” Holmes said. “I tried to use it to our team’s advantage and score.”

What Jablonski wrote on Game 2: The basketball gods dealt the Dayton Flyers another cruel blow.

Two years after the pandemic ended Dayton’s NCAA tournament dreams, an injury may have prevented the Flyers from playing in March Madness for the first time since 2017. There’s no guarantee No. 2 seed Dayton would have beaten Richmond with Malachi Smith for the whole game on Saturday or knocked off No. 1 seed Davidson on Sunday, but they stood little chance without their freshman point guard, who injured his ankle on the final play of the first half and did not return to the game.

No. 6 seed Richmond rallied from a 15-point deficit to beat Dayton 68-64 in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament at Capital One Arena, likely ending Dayton’s slim chances of earning a NCAA at-large berth and extending an A-10 tournament championship drought that has seen UD fail to capture the tournament trophy every year since 2003.

After the game, Dayton coach Anthony Grant and forwards DaRon Holmes II and Toumani Camara talked at the postgame press conference about the loss of the game but also the loss of their spark plug, an A-10 all-rookie selection who was one of Dayton’s breakout stars this season.

“He’s disappointed,” Grant said. “Certainly, it’s a big loss.”

“It affected us a lot,” Camara said. “He’s a big piece of the team.”

“He’s the head of the snake,” Holmes said.

2023: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Record: 2-1.

Seed: No. 2.

Results: Beat No. 10 Saint Joseph’s 60-54; beat No. 3 Fordham 78-68; and lost to No. 1 VCU 68-56.

What Jablonski wrote on Game 1: The Atlantic 10 Conference championship trophy sat on a platform in the concourse of the Barclays Center on Thursday. Any fan could walk up to it and take a selfie with it in the background.

With two more victories in the A-10 tournament, the Dayton Flyers will get all the time they want with the trophy, though their experience Thursday showed just how difficult it will be secure that title for the first time in 20 years.

No. 2 seed Dayton (21-11) escaped with a 60-54 victory against No. 10 seed Saint Joseph’s (16-17) in the quarterfinals and will play in the semifinals for the second straight season as it seeks its first championship game appearance since 2015.

”These guys played a game that was in a lot of ways just a tough game to play in the opening round of the tournament in their first time on the court,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said. “We’re excited that we get a chance to continue to play at this time of year. We know this is March Madness, and it’s survive and advance. We’re excited that we get to continue to play here and get a chance to continue to compete here on Saturday.”

What Jablonski wrote on Game 2: Ricardo Greer held one fist in the air and then blew a kiss toward the stands, where his family sat, at the Barclays Center on Saturday. Zimi Nwokeji waved to the crowd as the Dayton Flyers left the court, as did Mike Sharavjamts and the other players that followed.

Toumani Camara and DaRon Holmes II raised both hands in the air and applauded the fans who had cheered for them all afternoon. Then a “Go Dayton Flyers” chant rang out as one fan in the front row chewed on a cigar, which did not appear to be lit.

Dayton fans in Brooklyn, back home in Ohio and around the world will have plenty of reasons to light those victory cigars if their team wins one more game.

No. 2 seed Dayton ran away from No. 3 seed Fordham in the final minutes to win 78-68 in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament.

”Our guys showed unbelievable toughness,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said, “and a level of grit you’ve got to have in March. We understood that we needed to be able to make plays on the offensive end with the way that they were mixing up their defense. It was more about making plays, and we needed to be able to defend at a high level and rebound the ball at a high level. Down the stretch, in the last 12 minutes or so, our defense went to another level. I’m just really proud of our group to be able to get to this point.”

What Jablonski wrote on Game 3: Red, white and blue confetti made a mess of the court at the Barclays Center on Sunday. It would have been the perfect color if the Dayton Flyers had won the Atlantic 10 Conference championship. For Virginia Commonwealth, the color of the confetti carpet didn’t dampen the mood.

No. 1 seed VCU (27-7) completed a dominant season in the A-10 with a 68-56 victory against No. 2 seed Dayton (22-12), earning its second tournament championship since joining the conference 11 seasons ago, against a UD program that owns one title in 28 seasons.

A 19-6 run by VCU in the final 10 minutes kept Dayton out of the NCAA tournament for the sixth straight year. The Flyers have failed to win the A-10 tournament in their last 19 chances and still have never won the event outside UD Arena.

It was a heartbreaking ending to a disappointing season for Dayton, though no one knew for sure if it was the end because of the possibility of an NIT bid.

“First of all, congratulations to VCU,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said. “Obviously, they had an outstanding year before the postseason, won the league outright and then were able to secure the championship today. So my hat’s off to them. For us, obviously, there’s a big level of disappointment that we weren’t able to finish the job. These guys have done everything that myself and our staff and their teammates have asked of them in terms of the sacrifices and overcoming adversity over the course of the year to get to this point.

“As you can imagine, there’s a lot of disappointment in our locker room right now because we weren’t able to accomplish the mission, but I’m really proud of what these guys were able to accomplish in the regular season and getting to this point and making it to the championship game and having this opportunity.”