Dayton dominates VCU to move into second place in A-10

Dayton dominated a Virginia Commonwealth team that beat it 53-52 on Jan. 5 at UD Arena. This was Dayton’s fourth victory in 12 games against VCU in the last five seasons and its third victory at the Siegel Center since 2015.

DaRon Holmes II led Dayton with 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Kobe Elvis scored 20 on 9-of-14 shooting. Toumani Camara had 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting.

Dayton (15-7, 7-2) sits alone in second place halfway through the conference schedule. Davidson (18-3, 8-1() is in first place.

Saint Louis (15-6, 6-2) is a half game behind Dayton. The Flyers play at Saint Louis at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Dayton won by shooting 46.7% from 3-point range (7 of 15) and holding VCU (13-7, 6-3) to 18.2% (2 of 11). The Flyers also had fewer turnovers (17-12).

VCU played without two injured players: leading scorer Vince Williams (12.9 points per game); and freshman forward Jalen DeLoach (4.0).

HALFTIME RECAP

Camara made 4 of 4 3-pointers to lead the Flyers to a 43-28 halftime lead.

Camara scored 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting. He was halfway to Shawn Haughn’s school-record 8-of-8 performance.

Dayton scored four points in the last five seconds to grab its biggest lead of the half. Malachi Smith threw an alley-oop pass to DaRon Holmes II. Then Elvis stole the in-bounds pass and scored on a layup at the buzzer.

Elvis scored 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Holmes had 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting.

Dayton took control with an 11-0 run in an 89-second stretch, turning a 21-21 score into a 32-21 lead.

The Flyers shot 54.4% (18 of 35), while the Rams shot 50% (11 of 22).