On Friday at the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament in Washington, D.C., Dayton ran onto the court at Capital One Arena wearing shirts that read “Nothing Easy.”
Of all the shirts over the years, this one did a better job than any summing up Dayton’s experience on gamedays in the 2024-25 season. There were few easy games all season, and all 45 minutes of the quarterfinal matchup against Saint Joseph’s were difficult — from the way the game started, as Dayton fell behind by 15, to the way it ended, with the Hawks pulling away in overtime for a 73-68 victory.
“It definitely hurts to fight like that and come up short,” Dayton forward Nate Santos said.
Dayton did show fight to get back into the game after a lackluster first-half performance. There was a point early in the second half when Grant could be heard yelling at the players during a timeout, trying to fire them up and give them the extra push to complete the comeback.
“It was a two-possession game,” Grant said, “and I just felt like the energy on the floor wasn’t where it needed to be. When you’re dealing with young people, sometimes they get caught up in how things are going for them individually as opposed to what’s going on with the team and what the team needs at that time. And I think that was probably what I was expressing at that time.”
Grant’s speech worked. The Flyers tied the game when Amaël L’Etang, who had missed his first four attempts, made a 3-pointer with 8 minutes, 24 seconds remaining. Dayton then took control with a 12-0 run in the final minutes only to blow a four-point lead in the last 18 seconds and then lose in overtime.
Dayton missed all three of its free throw attempts — two by Santos and one by Malachi Smith — in the final minute of the second half to let Saint Joseph’s back in the game. In its four-game winning streak to end the regular season, it made 11 of 12 free throws in the last minute of the second half.
Dayton’s best free-throw shooting team (75.5%) since the 2010-11 season (77.7%) had made its first six free throws in the game. Smith had made 18 of his last 20 free throws. Santos had made 13 of his last 15.
The misses came at the worst moment. That’s basketball. Nothing’s easy.
“Obviously, disappointed in the outcome,” Grant said. “I felt like we were playing some of our best basketball down the stretch here. But unfortunately, today, we came up short. Guys fought. Some plays here or there, obviously, didn’t go our way. Credit to Saint Joe’s and their team.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Big blocks: Justice Ajogbor, a 6-foot-10 senior center for Saint Joseph’s, blocked seven shots against Dayton, including one at the buzzer against Dayton guard Malachi Smith, who had a layup attempt to win the game.
Ajogbor became the eighth player in A-10 tournament history to block seven or more shots in a game.
“Justice is a leader,” Saint Joseph’s guard Erik Reynolds II said. “What he does, I’m not shocked at all. We’ve been going through this all summer. He’s been blocking our shots like that. I’m not surprised. He always steps up when we need him the most.”
Semifinal results: No. 1 seed Virginia Commonwealth improved to 9-0 in A-10 semifinal games in 13 seasons in the league with a 62-55 victory against No. 4 Loyola Chicago on Saturday.
VCU is 2-6 in A-10 championship games. If it wins the championship this year, it will have the fifth most titles in league history. Former A-10 member Temple won nine championships. Massachusetts, which just completed its final season in the A-10, won all five of its titles in a row in the 1990s. Xavier and Saint Joseph’s have each won the tournament four times.
• In the other semifinal, No. 2 seed George Mason earned its first appearance in the championship game in its 12th season in the league with a 74-64 victory against Saint Joseph’s. The Patriots opened the game with a 14-0 run and led the entire way.
Championship matchup: VCU and George Mason will play each other in a conference championship game Sunday for the first time in 16 years. They played three times in Colonial Athletic Association championship games (2004, 2007 and 2009) with VCU winning each time.
Credit: David Jablonski
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