Dayton had not allowed that many points in a game since a 100-90 loss to George Washington in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament on March 4, 1999. That was a 20-win George Washington team. Dayton was playing a Saint Joseph’s team that had won two games all season entering the game.
A season of inconsistency continued with another defeat that falls into the category of worst losses in recent memory. The Flyers have now lost to the three teams at the bottom of the A-10 standings: La Salle; Fordham (2-11, 2-11); and Saint Joseph’s (8-14, 5-10).
Saint Joseph’s dominated Dayton for most of the 40 minutes, starting with a 24-7 run in the first six minutes.
Dayton (12-8, 8-7) played well for only one stretch. In the first seven minutes of the second half, it trimmed a 54-38 deficit to 62-59. Less than four minutes later, the Hawks (2-14, 1-9) pushed their lead back to double digits, and the Flyers had no more rallies in them.
The Hawks won the game behind the 3-point line, making 18 of 42 3-pointers (42.9 percent). Taylor Funk scored 36 points. Ryan Daly added 25.
Dayton shot a respectable 40 percent from 3-point range (10 of 25), but it was far from enough. Jalen Crutcher led Dayton with 17 points. Ibi Watson scored 16.
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When looking ahead to this game on Friday after the victory against Saint Louis, Dayton coach Anthony Grant called Saint Joseph’s a dangerous team. At that point, the Hawks had not won an A-10 game this season, though they returned to action Saturday with a 91-82 overtime victory at home against La Salle in their first game since Jan. 30.
This was Dayton’s second-to-last regular-season game. It will play at Saint Bonaventure (12-3, 10-3) on Monday at a time to be announced.
Then Dayton moves on to the A-10 tournament, which starts March 3 in Richmond, Va., with two games involving the bottom four seeds. The Flyers likely will start play in the second round on March 4.
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