Dayton beats La Salle for 13th straight victory

Here’s a quick recap of the game:

What it means: Dayton (16-2, 6-0) has won 13 straight games. It also won 13 in a row in the 2007-08 season. This is the Flyers’ longest winning streak since a 20-game run to end their 29-2 season in 2020.

The Flyers moved into first place by a half game over Richmond (13-5, 5-0).

Dayton won at La Salle for the first time since 2020 when it started an 18-0 run in the A-10 with an 84-58 victory at Tom Gola Arena. The Flyers are 2-2 at La Salle in coach Anthony Grant’s seven seasons.

Star of the game: Dayton’s DaRon Holmes II scored 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting and had eight rebounds. He has topped 20 points in four straight games.

Key stat: On a night when both teams shot under 30% from 3-point range, Dayton outscored La Salle 38-12 in the paint. The Flyers made 5 of 19 3s (26.3%), their third-worst performance of the season.

Key moment: La Salle trimmed a 45-33 Dayton lead to 45-42 with a nine-point run in a two-minute stretch. Javon Bennett then hit two straight 3-pointers, and Holmes scored on back-to-back layups as Dayton pushed the lead to 55-45 at the 6:33 mark.

Bennett added a third 3-pointer in the second half and finished with 13 points. Nate Santos also scored 13.

Looking ahead: Dayton plays Richmond (13-5, 5-0) at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Robins Center in Richmond, Va. Richmond has won eight games in a row and plays Wednesday at home against George Washington (14-4, 3-2). The Spiders beat St. Bonaventure, Loyola Chicago, George Mason, Duquesne and Davidson to start A-10 play.

Dayton beat Richmond 86-60 at UD Arena last season. Dayton has won the last 10 regular-season meetings in the series. The Flyers won the last game in Richmond 55-53 in 2022 on a last-second dunk by R.J. Blakney.

HALFTIME RECAP

Dayton outscored La Salle 16-6 in the final seven minutes of the first half to build a 36-23 halftime lead

Here’s a quick recap of the first half:

Key players: Holmes scored 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Kobe Elvis added 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting.

Key stat: Dayton shot 50% from the field (15 of 30), while La Salle shot 30% (9 of 30).

Turning point: Dayton led 20-17 and then started an 8-0 run with five straight points by Holmes and a 3-pointer by Kobe Elvis.