Dayton stays in hunt for top-four seed with victory at Rhode Island

Here’s a quick recap of the game:

What it means: Dayton (19-9, 9-6) improved to 2-1 in the last three seasons against former UD coach Archie Miller, who’s in his third season at Rhode Island.

Dayton stayed in a three-way tie for fourth place in the Atlantic 10 Conference with Saint Joseph’s (18-10, 9-6) and Saint Louis (16-12, 9-6). Three games remain in the regular season.

Star of the game: Nate Santos led Dayton with 19 points. He made 5 of 8 3-pointers and 4 of 4 free throws.

Stat of the game: Dayton shot 37% from 3-point range (10 of 27). Rhode Island shot 10.5% (2 of 19).

Turning point: Dayton led 37-34 three minutes into the second half and then scored eight straight points to take a 45-34 lead on five straight points by Javon Bennett.

Dayton stretched its lead to as many as 20 points, taking a 62-42 lead on a 3-point play by Cheeks at the 11:18 mark.

Comeback: Rhode Island cut the deficit to six points with a 20-6 run. Two 3-pointers by Dayton’s Nate Santos in 67 seconds helped Dayton maintain its lead.

Big foul: Dayton again led by six points when Rhode Island’s top player, Sebastian Thomas, was called for his fifth foul. Smith made two free throws at the 1:39 mark to push the lead back to eight.

Looking ahead: Dayton plays Richmond (10-19, 5-11) at 2 p.m. Saturday at UD Arena. It’s the second-to-last home game for the Flyers, but they will celebrate Senior Day because it’s a weekend game.

Six players will be honored: Brady Uhl, Cheeks, Zed Key and Posh Alexander, who are all fifth-year players; Santos, who’s a senior; and Smith, a redshirt junior who will graduate in the spring. Smith is the only player in the group who has a season of eligibility remaining.

HALFTIME RECAP

Dayton overcame an early 10-point deficit with a 14-1 run and took a 33-30 lead into halftime

Here’s a quick recap of the first half:

Top players: Cheeks had seven points and six rebounds in the half for Dayton. Alexander also had seven points.

Sebastian Thomas led Rhode Island with seven points.

Key stat: Dayton made 5 of 14 3-pointers. Rhode Island made 1 of 10.

Big run: Dayton trailed 25-15 after a 3-point play by Thomas with 11 minutes, 21 seconds left in the half. Over the next six-plus minutes, the Flyers outscored the Rams 12-0.

Scoring drought: Rhode Island missed nine straight field goals before stopping the 12-0 run with a free throw by David Green at the 4:10 mark. A layup by Green at the 3:08 mark was Rhode Island’s first field goal in eight minutes.