» TWENTY PHOTOS: Top shots from Saturday’s game
The Flyers never let the Billikens get closer than six points in the final eight minutes, coasting to a 70-62 victory against a team that beat them 73-60 18 days earlier.
“Today was a big win,” Dayton point guard Jalen Crutcher. “It kind of separated us from them.”
Dayton (18-9, 10-4) moved into third place by itself, one game ahead of George Mason, Duquesne and St. Bonaventure (all 9-5). The Billikens (17-10, 8-6) fell into seventh place.
Each of those five teams is fighting for the third and fourth seeds in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament — Virginia Commonwealth (21-6, 12-2) and Davidson (21-7, 11-3) occupy first and second place — and Dayton now leads the pack with four games to play. Not only that, the Flyers have momentum. They followed Tuesday’s 74-73 victory at Davidson with a strong performance on both sides of the ball against the A-10’s preseason favorite.
» GAME STORY: Grant calls it a ‘character win’ for Dayton
Here are three numbers that defined Dayton’s victory:
1. Outside shooting: Dayton made 10 of 22 3-pointers (45.5 percent). It was the ninth time this season Dayton has topped 40 percent.
The Flyers started cold, making 2 of 10 in the first 19 minutes. A 3-pointer by Crutcher with two seconds left in the half gave Dayton a 22-21 halftime lead, and the strong shooting carried into the second half when the Flyers made 7 of 11.
Crutcher made 4 of 8 3-pointers and scored 17 points. Jordan Davis tallied nine points by making 3 of 6 3-pointers. Ryan Mikesell scored 12 points and made 2 of 3-pointers. Trey Landers, who scored eight points, made the other 3-pointer.
Crutcher improved his season percentage to 37.3. He has made 62 of 166. He bounced back from an 0-of-5 performance against Davidson.
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“I’ve just been working on my shot,” Crutcher said. “Coach (Anthony Solomon) always tells me to get my feet centered to the rim. That’s what I tried to do, and I made some shots today.”
Credit: DaytonDailyNews
2. Offensive rebounds: Saint Louis grabbed 19 offensive rebounds in the first game against Dayton and outscored Dayton 26-13 in second-chance points. This time, the Billikens grabbed nine offensive rebounds, while Dayton had a 12-4 advantage in second-chance points.
“Coming into this game (rebounding) was our No. 1 priority,” Dayton forward Obi Toppin said.
3. Line struggles: While the Flyers didn't shoot the ball well at the free-throw line (12 of 20, 60 percent), the Billikens lived up their billing as one of the nation's worst free-throw shooting teams. They rank 351st out of 353 teams in Division I (59.9 percent). They made 6 of 14 against Dayton.
“We’re getting the ball where we want it,” Saint Louis coach Travis Ford said. “(Poor free throw shooting) is no surprise. We have to figure out a way to play within that.”
TUESDAY’S GAME
Dayton at Massachusetts, 7 p.m., ESPN+, AM 1290 and News 95.7 WHIO
Credit: DaytonDailyNews
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