Dayton plays strong second half to beat Davidson

Here’s a quick recap of the game:

What it means: Dayton (13-6, 5-1) bounced back from a 63-62 loss at home Friday to Virginia Commonwealth and kept pace with VCU atop the Atlantic 10 Conference one third of the way through the conference schedule.

VCU (14-5, 5-1) beat Massachusetts 83-55 on Tuesday in Richmond, Va. Dayton and VCU lead Saint Louis (12-6, 4-1) by a half game.

Dayton won its seventh straight game against Davidson and swept the season series. Davidson (9-10, 2-5) has lost four straight games for the first time since it joined the A-10 in the 2014-15 season.

Star of the game: Dayton’s Mustapha Amzil scored 19 points, his highest total since scoring 20 in the second game of the season against Southern Methodist, on 5-of-8 shooting. He made 7 of 8 free throws.

Stat of the game: Dayton made 6 of 14 3-pointers (42.9%), while Davidson made 5 of 24 (20.8%). Davidson has shot below 30% in nine straight games.

Turning point: Dayton trailed 34-31 early in the second half when a basket by Toumani Camara, who scored 15 points, at the 18:35 mark started a 13-0 run. R.J. Blakney dunked on the fast break on the next possession to give Dayton a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.

Back in action: Malachi Smith, returning from an ankle injury after missing 11 games, had five points and five assists in 15 minutes in his first appearance since November.

Kobe Elvis, who has missed 11 straight games with a knee injury, was in uniform for the second straight game but did not play.

No repeat: DaRon Holmes II scored 32 points in the first game against Davidson on Dec. 31 and had four points in this game.

HALFTIME RECAP

Dayton faced a halftime deficit at home for the second time this season when Davidson’s Desmond Watson hit a tie-breaking 3-pointer with 28 seconds left in the first half.

Dayton trailed 32-29 after that basket. The only previous time it trailed at halftime at home was Dec. 3. Southeastern Louisiana led 39-38 at halftime. Dayton won that game 80-74.

Here’s a quick recap of the first half:

Key player: Watson scored 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting. He had 13 points in 26 minutes against Dayton in a 69-55 Dayton victory on Dec. 31 at Davidson.

Key stat: Davidson grabbed eight offensive rebounds and turned them into 13 second-chance points. Dayton had two offensive rebounds and two second-chance points.

Foul trouble: Holmes II, who scored 20 points in the first half in the first game, was limited to two points on 1-of-3 shooting in nine minutes. He picked up his second foul with 6:24 to play and did not play the rest of the half.

Rotation news: Smith was one of the first players off the bench, along with Koby Brea. He had three assists and missed his only field-goal attempt in eight minutes.

Big run: Dayton trailed 23-16 when it scored eight points in 51 seconds. Mustapha Amzil. who led Dayton with nine points in the half, started the run with a 4-point play. R.J. Blakney finished it with a dunk on a fast break. Toumani Camara had the basket in the middle.