Dayton beats Duquesne with game-ending 22-2 run

Here’s a quick recap of the game:

What it means: Dayton (20-4, 10-2) bounced back from its second Atlantic 10 Conference loss, 49-47 at Virginia Commonwealth on Friday, and stayed perfect at UD Arena. The Flyers are 12-0 at home.

Dayton trails Richmond (17-6, 9-1) by a half game and has a half-game lead over third-place Loyola Chicago (17-7, 9-2). The Flyers have six games remaining in the regular season.

The Flyers have won 11 of the last 12 games in the series and are 11-2 against Duquesne in coach Anthony Grant’s tenure. Duquesne has lost 10 straight games at Dayton since an 83-73 victory on Feb. 1, 2012.

Star of the game: Dayton forward DaRon Holmes II scored 24 points on 10-of-18 shooting. He grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked three shots.

Stat of the game: Dayton made 16 of 23 free throws, while Duquesne made 1 of 3.

Big run: Dayton trailed 57-53 after a layup by Duquesne guard Jimmy Clark at the 6:39 mark. Two free throws by Dayton’s Nate Santos at the 6:17 mark started a 22-0 run. Dayton scored the first nine points in the run at the free-throw line. Koby Brea made two 3-pointers during the spurt.

Dayton nearly shut out its opponent in the almost the final five minutes for the second straight game. VCU didn’t score in the last 5 minutes, 58 seconds against Dayton. Duquesne didn’t score from the 6:39 mark until there were nine seconds left.

Looking ahead: Dayton plays Fordham (10-13, 4-6) at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at UD Arena.

FIRST-HALF RECAP

Dayton overcame an 11-point deficit to build a 36-33 halftime lead. Here’s a quick recap of the first half:

Key players: Holmes led all scorers with 12 points on 6-of-12 shooting.

Duquesne guard Jimmy Clark III scored 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting.

Key stat: Duquesne shot 7 of 11 from the field in the first nine minutes to build a 16-9 lead.

Big run: Dayton trailed 22-11 at the 9:50 mark. Grant called a timeout at that point. Dayton answered with a 13-2 run to tie the game on a layup by Enoch Cheeks at the 5:08 mark.

Big shot: Nate Santos made a 3-pointer at the 1:31 mark to give Dayton a 34-29 lead. The Flyers made 4 of 13 3-pointers in the half, while Duquesne made 3 of 8. Koby Brea made 2 of 3 for Dayton.

Important contribution: Dayton brought guard Brady Uhl off the bench for Duquesne’s final possession, and he committed three fouls to trim the clock to two seconds. He then left the game. Duquesne still scored at the buzzer on a layup by Clark to trim Dayton’s lead to two points.