Dayton dominates second half to beat Longwood for seventh straight victory

Here’s a quick recap of the game:

What it means: Dayton (10-2) won its seventh straight game and its 17th straight non-conference home game. The Flyers lost only two games in non-conference play for the first time since the 2019-20 season.

Star of the game: Dayton forward DaRon Holmes II scored 27 points on 9-of-13 shooting.

Key stat: Dayton made 7 of 13 3-pointers in the second half to finish 11 of 27 (40.7). It entered the game with the second-best percentage (41.8) in the country.

Holmes made 3 of 5 3s. Koby Brea made 2 of 7. Kobe Elvis made 2 of 5.

Turning point: Brea and Javon Bennett made back-to-back 3s to give Dayton a 51-47 lead with 11:47 to play. Dayton stretched its advantage to 60-48 and led the rest of the way.

Looking ahead: Dayton opens Atlantic 10 Conference play at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Davidson (10-3), which beat Ohio 72-69 on Saturday in Cleveland.

HALFTIME RECAP

Holmes made a 3-pointer in the final seconds of the first half, but Dayton faced a 37-34 halftime deficit against Longwood.

Longwood did not trail in the first half, and there was one tie. Here’s a quick recap of the first half:

Key players: Holmes led all scorers with 14 points. He made 5 of 7 field goals, including 2 of 2 3-pointers.

Michael Christmas and Jonathan Massie each scored nine for Longwood.

Key stat: Dayton shot 28.6% (4 of 14) from 3-point range. Longwood shot 53.6% from the field and made 3 of 4 3-pointers.

Big run: Dayton trailed 14-13 after a 3-pointer by Petras Padegimas. Longwood then began a 7-0 run to build its biggest lead, 21-13 with 10:06 left in the half.

Cold start: Brea, the nation’s leading 3-point shooter (52.9%) missed all three of its shots from long range in the half.

Clean game: Each team committed two turnovers in the half.