Dayton storms back to beat Nevada, reaches second round of NCAA tourney

The No. 7 seed Flyers (25-7) stormed back from a 17-point deficit in the second half to beat No. 10 seed Nevada 63-60 in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Thursday at the Delta Center on Thursday. In its last victories — against Virginia Commonwealth in the regular-season finale and now Nevada — Dayton has overcome 17-point deficits.

“That has been our group all year,” Dayton guard Enoch Cheeks said. “When we get into situations like this, we just show resilience. We just have a great group of guys who always fight, fight, fight. Being in this situation before, we know if there is time on the clock, we have a good chance to come back.”

Here’s a quick recap of the game:

What it means: Dayton (25-7) won a NCAA tournament game for the first time since 2015. It’s the first tournament victory in coach Anthony Grant’s seven seasons. The Flyers are making their first appearance in the tournament since 2017.

Dayton’s victory gave the Atlantic 10 Conference a 2-0 record on the first day of the tournament. No. 11 seed Duquesne upset No. 7 BYU 71-67 earlier in the day.

Star of the game: DaRon Holmes II led Dayton with 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting.

Stat of the game: Dayton made 8 of 19 3-pointers (42.1%), including 5 of 7 in the second half. Koby Brea made 5 of 8 and scored 15 points.

Turning point: Dayton trailed 56-39 with 7:39 to play. The Flyers began a 17-0 run on a free throw by Holmes with 7:14 to play. They tied the game on a 3-pointer by Brea with 2:45 to play.

Big shots: Holmes gave Dayton its first lead of the second half with a 3-point play with 2:01 to play. Nate Santos scored another go-ahead basket on a layup with 34 seconds to play. Santos then made two free throws with 15 seconds remaining to give Dayton a 63-60 lead.

Defensive stops: Nevada missed two 3-pointers in the final seconds that would have tied the game.

Fun fact: Nevada (26-8), which lost their first game in the tournament for the second straight year, were 24-0 when leading at halftime before this loss.

Looking ahead: Dayton will play No. 2 seed Arizona in the second round on Saturday at a time to be announced. Arizona (26-8) beat No. 15 Long Beach State 85-65 in the first game Thursday at the Delta Center.

HALFTIME RECAP

Key players: Forward Nick Davidson led Nevada with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting.

DaRon Holmes II scored eight points for Dayton on 3-of-5 shooting.

Key stat: Nevada made 4 of 3-pointers. Dayton made 3 of 12.

Turning point: Dayton led 25-18 after a basket by Isaac Jack with 5 minutes, 6 seconds remaining. In the last five minutes, Dayton missed all four of its shot attempts and committed three turnovers. In the same stretch, Nevada made all six of its shot attempts, including three 3-pointers.

Injury news: Nevada played without Hunter McIntosh, a 6-foot-3 fifth-year guard. He missed his second straight game with knee pain.