ANALYSIS: Three takeaways from Dayton’s victory against St. Bonaventure

Holmes passed up a chance to score 36 points, which would have been a new career high, and settled for 34, tying the career-best mark he set last season in a loss to George Mason.

Holmes carried No. 21 Dayton (18-3, 8-1) to a 76-71 victory against St. Bonaventure. Dayton’s 18th victory goes down as one of its toughest. On a night when the 3-pointer wasn’t falling, the Flyers found a way — Holmes was the way. His teammates repeatedly gave him the ball in the second half and let him go to work.

Dayton’s 15th victory in the last six games and 11th straight victory at home adds to the buzz building around a team that moves closer toward securing a NCAA tournament at-large berth with every victory. The Flyers assured themselves of another week in the top 25 with their 15th victory in the last 16 games.

“It’s amazing; it’s a blessing,” Holmes said. “It just shows all the work we put in, but our goal is to just stay disciplined and keep working hard and continue to try to be the best versions of ourselves and be where our feet are. We have to stay level headed. It’s a lot of fun, but we’ve got to celebrate when the season’s over. We’re just pushing forward.”

Here are three takeaways from Dayton’s 21st game:

1. Dayton overcame a sub-par first half and then a slow start to the second half: Dayton opened the game with a 7-0 run in the first five minutes. It stretched its lead to 11-4 and then 17-9 at the 8:20 mark.

St. Bonaventure outscored Dayton 21-11 from that point to take a 30-28 halftime lead. Dayton made 1 of 12 3-pointers (8.3%). Holmes led all scorers with nine points.

Things did not improve in the opening minutes of the second half for Dayton. St. Bonaventure center Chad Venning scored five of his 11 points in the first two minutes. The Bonnies extended their lead to 35-28.

“I thought it was a great college basketball game,” St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt said. “Give Dayton credit. They made the plays at the end. We had a hard time with Holmes as you can imagine. But I thought our guys showed a lot of character. We didn’t start off well early. We played on our heels. Against Dayton, if you play on your heels, things are not going to go your way. We got our legs 10 minutes into the first half. We fought. We made some big plays. We didn’t quit. We didn’t execute all the time, but I thought our effort was was good.”

2. Holmes got the St. Bonaventure big men in foul trouble: Both Venning, the 6-foot-10, 255-pound forward who starts for the Bonnies, and his backup, 6-11, 265-pound center Noel Brown, fouled out trying to defend Holmes.

Venning had averaged 29.0 minutes per game in A-10 play but was limited to 17 minutes, 33 seconds. Brown saw more action than normal, 19:05, because of Venning’s foul trouble.

Holmes was fouled 13 times and made 13 of 17 free throws. He made 10 of 15 field goals, including 1 of 2 3-pointers.

At that point, Holmes started to take over. He answered Venning’s 3-point play with his own 3-point play, and Venning picked up his third foul at that point and left the game. Dayton again fell behind by seven, 38-31, only to have Holmes score five straight points.

Enoch Cheeks, who scored 13, tied the game on a dunk at the 16:01 mark. A basket by Koby Brea capped a 9-0 run. Dayton led 40-38. The Flyers didn’t create some distance between themselves and the Bonnies until the final six minutes.

Holmes scored six points at the line during a 9-0 Dayton run after St. Bonaventure tied the game at 54-54 at the 7:24 mark.

“We had a hard time stopping Holmes with our two big guys in there,” Schmidt said. “He’s just a really good player. Maybe you play a little bit of zone, but they surround Holmes with four shooters, so that makes it difficult. We tried to double, and you can’t do the same thing over and over to him. He’s a good passer.”

3. St. Bonaventure kept it close by making 3-pointers: While Dayton made season-low three 3-pointers (3 of 15, 20%), the Bonnies made 10 of 30. They made 8 of 20 in the second half, including three in the final two minutes after Dayton had pushed its lead to 68-58.

Dayton clinched the victory by making its last six free throws.

“The game was like a heavyweight fight,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said. “It was great for college basketball. It was great for A-10 basketball. You had two really hard-playing, competitive teams on display tonight. I”m just really proud of our guys. We grew up today as a team.”

STAR OF THE GAME

Holmes topped 30 points for the second time this season. He improved his season scoring average to 20.0 points per game. He now has 1,494 points in his career. He passed Chris Johnson (1,467) and Jack Zimmerman (1,482) to move into 21st place on Dayton’s all-time scoring list.

Holmes set his career high with 13 made free throws. He made 12 of 18 against George Mason in a 74-69 loss at UD Arena.

STAT OF THE GAME

Dayton had six turnovers. It has single-digit turnovers five times in the last six games and eight times in the last 12 games.

LOOKING AHEAD

Dayton plays Saint Joseph’s (14-7, 4-4) at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Hagan Arena in Philadelphia. Saint Joseph’s plays at La Salle (11-10, 2-6) at noon Saturday.

Dayton beat Saint Joseph’s twice last season: 76-56 at UD Arena in January; and 60-54 in the quarterfinals of the A-10 tournament in March. Dayton won 74-62 in 2022 in its last trip to Hagan Arena. Dayton is 3-10 at Hagan Arena this century. It ended a nine-game losing streak in the building with an 80-67 victory in 2020.

Saint Joseph’s has won its last three home games against La Salle, George Mason and Duquesne since losing 78-75 to Loyola Chicago on Jan. 13.

TUESDAY’S GAME

Dayton at Saint Joseph’s, 8 p.m., CBS Sports Network, 95.7, 1290