Dayton rallies from double-digit deficit to beat Saint Louis in final home game

What it means: Dayton (21-9, 11-6) swept the season series from Saint Louis (17-13, 10-7). The Billikens have lost 11 straight games at UD Arena since a victory in January 2014.

Dayton moved into third place all by itself in the Atlantic 10 Conference with one game to play. It leads Saint Louis by a game. Saint Joseph’s and Loyola Chicago (both 10-6 in A-10 play), who play games Wednesday, trail Dayton by a half game.

Sellout streak: The UD Arena sellout streak, secured before the season by the fourth-straight sold out season, reached 77 games. Crowds of 13,409 saw Dayton finish 16-2 at home this season.

Stars of the game: Enoch Cheeks led Dayton with 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting and nine rebounds.

Isaiah Swope led Saint Louis with 28 points on 11-of-17 shooting. Gibson Jimerson scored 23 points on 8-of-18 shooting, making 7 of 15 3-pointers.

Stat of the game: Dayton had a 43-28 rebounding advantage, including a 13-6 edge in offensive rebounds.

Turning point: Dayton trailed 51-37 after a 3-pointer by Swope with 15 minutes, 49 seconds to play. Over the next six minutes, Dayton outscored Saint Louis 16-2, tying the game at 53 on two free throws by Zed Key at the 9:37 mark.

Big shots: Saint Louis answered Dayton’s run with a 7-1 run to take a 60-54 lead. Enoch Cheeks then tied the game with back-to-back 3s.

Big run: The shots by Cheeks started a 15-2 Dayton run in a 2½-minute stretch. Dayton led 69-62 after a dunk by Cheeks at the 5:05 mark. The Flyers led the rest of the way.

Celebrity sighting: Famed comedian Dave Chappelle, a Yellow Springs resident, sat courtside in the second half and posed for photos with the Dayton players and coach Anthony Grant after the game. Chappelle told the Dayton Daily News it was his first game at UD Arena. He told Grant he would be back.

Looking ahead: Dayton plays first-place Virginia Commonwealth (25-5, 15-2) in the final game of the regular season at 7 p.m. Friday at the Siegel Center in Richmond, Va. VCU won 71-62 at Duquesne on Tuesday to clinch a share of the A-10 regular-season title.

HALFTIME RECAP

One year after trailing Virginia Commonwealth 48-31 at halftime in the final home game of the 2023-24 season, Dayton trailed Saint Louis 41-28 at halftime.

Dayton rallied to beat VCU 91-86 in overtime after rallying in the second half from the 17-point deficit.

Here’s a quick recap of the first half:

Top players: Swope led Saint Louis with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting. He made 3 of 5 3-pointers.

Jimerson made 5 of 7 3-pointers and scored 15 points.

Enoch Cheeks and Amaël L’Etang each scored seven points for Dayton.

Key stat: Saint Louis made 8 of 16 3-pointers. Dayton made 4 of 12.

Big run: After Cheeks tied the game at 17-17 with a jump shot with 13 minutes, 16 seconds left in the half, Saint Louis began an 11-0 run over the next six minutes.

Largest lead: Saint Louis led 41-26 after a 3-pointer by Jimerson at the 3:06 mark.