ANALYSIS: Three takeaways from Dayton’s victory against Davidson

Seven seasons then came and went without another Davidson victory against Dayton. The Flyers lost to every other program in the A-10 at least once in coach Anthony Grant’s first seven seasons.

Dayton’s nine-game winning streak against Davidson was in great jeopardy Tuesday at UD Arena when an official stepped in to save the day for the Flyers. Davidson’s Hunter Adam earned a technical foul for taunting forward Nate Santos as they crossed paths near center court during a timeout with 48 seconds to play.

Javon Bennett made both free throws after the technical to tie the game and then converted a 3-point play two seconds later to give Dayton the lead. The Flyers made 5 of 6 free throws down the stretch to seal a 69-63 victory.

“A great lesson for all the young players out there at the end of the game,” Grant said. “Just composure. Composure. I don’t know their young man, but obviously (the call) was in our favor, the technical, and it gave us a chance to tie the game with no time off the clock.”

Here are three takeaways from Dayton’s 24th game:

1. The Flyers scored off an in-bounds play to take the lead: The go-ahead 3-point play took two seconds off the clock. Enoch Cheeks threw an in-bounds pass from in front of the Dayton bench to Bennett, who caught the ball in stride and got past the defender, Conner Kochera, for a layup. Kochera earned a foul for using his body to make contact with Bennett.

Prior to that play, Dayton had struggled to get the ball in-bounds often throughout the game.

“Davidson is as good as any team that we’ve played at making it really difficult for you on your side-outs and your under-outs,” Grant said. “At the end of the game, you know, we executed really well. Javon was able to get to the rim. Cheeks made a great pass. It was a five-point swing in maybe less than two seconds.”

2. The game-ending run overshadowed what a late collapse by Dayton: The Flyers outscored Davidson 10-2 in the final 48 seconds. In the 3½ minutes prior to that sequence, Davidson outscored Dayton 8-0, turning a 59-53 deficit at the 4:23 mark into a 61-59 lead with 51 seconds to play.

Dayton missed three straight shots during the stretch and then committed two straight turnovers. On the second turnover, Santos lost the ball while trying to make a pass to Amaël L’Etang. Davidson recovered the loose ball, and Kochera scored in transition to give the Wildcats a 61-59 lead with 51 seconds to play. It was the first lead for Davidson since the opening minute of the second half.

Davidson appeared to be on its way to its first victory against Dayton since 2017. The technical foul resulted in a fast shift in momentum.

Davidson (13-9, 3-6) suffered its fifth loss in the last six games, while Dayton (16-7, 6-4) won for the fifth time in the last six games.

“I’m absolutely freaking devastated,” Davidson coach Matt McKillop said on the Davidson postgame radio interview. “This is a really tough loss. We fought our tails off. We put ourselves in position to win, and we didn’t get it.”

3. Both teams struggled from long range: Dayton shot 23.1% (6 of 26), ending a streak of six straight games in which it shot 33% or better. Davidson shot 20.8% (5 of 24), its second-worst percentage of the season.

Dayton won the game in part because it had an 11-point edge at the foul line. It made 21 of 24 free throws, while Davidson made 10 of 11.

With St Bonaventure (17-6, 5-5) and Massachusetts (10-13, 5-5) both losing Tuesday, Dayton sits alone in fourth place with eight games to play.

“Like we were saying before the game, it’s February,” Bennett said. “This is when we need to start stacking wins right before the postseason. It’s huge for us to keep getting wins in A-10 play.”

STAR OF THE GAME

Amaël L’Etang recorded his second double-double of the season with 13 points on 6-of-14 shooting and 13 rebounds.

STAT OF THE GAME

The Flyers outscored the Wildcats 21-7 in second-chance points in part because L’Etang grabbed six offensive rebounds.

LOOKING AHEAD

Dayton plays second-place Virginia Commonwealth (18-5, 8-2) at 7 p.m. Friday at UD Arena. VCU beat La Salle 96-66 on Tuesday.

FRIDAY’S GAME

VCU at Dayton, 7 p.m., ESPN2, 95.7, 1290