What it means: Dayton (12-5, 2-3) ended a three-game losing streak and avoided its first four-game losing streak in Atlantic 10 Conference play since January 2014.
Loyola Chicago (11-7, 2-3) fell to 1-3 against Dayton in three seasons in the A-10.
Star of the game: Enoch Cheeks led Dayton with a career-high 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting. He made 6 of 9 3-pointers. His previous career high was 24 points.
Stat of the game: Loyola Chicago made 10 of 17 3-pointers in the second half and overtime after making 2 of 12 in the first half. It shot 41.4% (12 of 29). Dayton shot 8 of 22 (36.4%).
Big shots: Loyola sent the game to overtime on a game-tying shot by Sheldon Edwards with 13 seconds to play in the second half.
In overtime, Jalen Quinn made a game-tying layup with three seconds to play. After the basket, Smith got the in-bounds pass near the 3-point line, took one dribble and threw the pass to L’Etang for the winning basket.
Blown lead: Dayton led by as many as 13 points in the second half. The Flyers had an 11-point lead when Loyola started an 8-0 run to get back into the game.
Looking ahead: Dayton plays Duquesne (9-9, 4-1) at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse in Pittsburgh. Duquesne beat St. Bonaventure 75-57 on Saturday in Pittsburgh for its third straight victory.
Dayton beats Loyola 83-81 in overtime. Malachi Smith threw a long pass to Amael L’Etang, who laid it in with 0.2 seconds left. pic.twitter.com/zxNKZEAPHO
— David Jablonski (@DavidPJablonski) January 18, 2025
HALFTIME RECAP
Dayton led by as many as 13 points in the first half and took a 33-26 lead into halftime.
Here’s a quick recap of the first half:
Key players: Cheeks and Zed Key each scored nine points for Dayton. Cheeks made 3 of 4 3-pointers. Key made 5 of 8 free throws.
Jayden Dawson led Loyola with 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting.
Key stat: Loyola had eight turnovers. Dayton had four.
Big runs: Dayton opened the game with a 9-2 run but trailed 15-14 with 10 minutes left in the half. Dayton then outscored Loyola 12-0 in the next three minutes to build a 26-15 lead at the 7:15 mark.
Loyola answered with a 5-0 run. Then Key scored seven straight points: a layup followed by five free throws. Dayton held its biggest lead, 33-20 with under three minutes to play.
Loyola closed the half on a 6-0 run.
Lineup news: Javon Bennett returned to the starting lineup after Jacob Conner started in his place Wednesday in a loss to George Mason. Amaël L’Etang took Key’s spot in the starting lineup.
Posh Alexander missed his second straight game with a foot injury.
Nate Santos opened game with 3-point play. Dayton led 9-2. It’s now 9-6 at 15:22. Javon Bennett and Enoch Cheeks have 3s. pic.twitter.com/90tWHnLYjl
— David Jablonski (@DavidPJablonski) January 18, 2025
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