Dayton holds off UMass for ninth straight victory

Here’s a quick recap of the game:

What it means: Dayton (12-2, 2-0) won its ninth straight game. It’s the longest winning streak since a 20-game run in the 2019-20 season. It has won eight straight games against UMass.

Dayton moved into a first-place tie with two other teams off to 2-0 starts in the A-10: George Mason; and Loyola Chicago. UMass (10-4, 1-1) saw a four-game winning streak end.

Star of the game: Forward DaRon Holmes II led Dayton with 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting.

Stat of the game: UMass turned 20 offensive rebounds into 18-second chance points. The Minutemen never led in the game and trailed by double digits for most of the second half but slowly chipped away at the lead as Dayton’s offense went stagnant. Matt Cross led UMass with 18 points.

Key play: UMass had a chance to tie the game with 33 seconds left. Josh Cohen missed a jump shot. Holmes got the rebound. Javon Bennett then made two free throws to give Dayton a 61-57 lead.

Injury news: Kobe Elvis suffered a lower-body injury on the third play of the game and left the game but did return for a three-minute stint but did not play in the last 32 minutes.

Rankings update: Cincinnati’s 71-60 victory at Brigham Young on Saturday helped Dayton climb from No. 22 to a season-best No. 19 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool on Sunday. BYU (12-2) is No. 4. UC (12-2) moved from No. 37 to No. 25 with its best victory of the season. Dayton beat Cincinnati 82-68 on Dec. 16.

Lineup news: Dayton freshman forward Petras Padegimas missed his second straight game with an illness.

Looking ahead: Dayton plays Duquesne (9-5) at 7 p.m. Friday at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse in Pittsburgh. Duquesne announced last week it has sold out the game.

Duquesne was picked to finish fourth in the A-10 preseason poll. It opened A-10 play with two road losses: 80-61 at UMass on Wednesday; and 72-67 at Loyola Chicago. Its next game is against Dayton.

HALFTIME RECAP

Dayton did not trail in the first half for the second straight game, led by as many as 14 points and built a 38-29 halftime lead

Here’s a quick recap of the half:

Key player: Holmes scored 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting. He made 3 of 4 3-pointers.

Key stat: Dayton made 7 of 15 3-pointers (46.7%), while UMass made 1 of 9 (11.1%).

Big run: Dayton led 9-8 at the 15:40 mark when it began an 11-0 run over the next four minutes. It led 20-8 after a layup by Isaac Jack with 11:21 to play.

Bench contributions: Zimi Nwokeji made back-to-back 3-pointers for Dayton to score six points in the half. Entering the game, he had made 1 of 2 3-pointers in eight appearances.