Dayton survives Fordham’s upset bid, improving to 17-0 at UD Arena against Rams

What it means: Dayton (21-4, 11-2) completed a 2-0 week at home and moved into first place by itself in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Flyers have a half-game lead over Richmond (18-7, 10-2), which won 90-74 at George Washington on Saturday. Loyola Chicago (18-7, 10-2), which plays at Rhode island on Sunday, shares second place with Richmond.

Virginia Commonwealth (17-8, 9-3) trails Dayton by one game. VCU won 95-85 at Saint Louis on Friday.

Fordham (10-15, 4-8) lost its third straight game. It fell to 0-17 at UD Arena. The Flyers improved to 13-0 at home this season.

Star of the game: DaRon Holmes II scored 29 points on 10-of-13 shooting. He made 8 of 12 free throws. He also had 10 rebounds.

Key stat: Dayton shot 57.4% (27 of 47) from the field, while Fordham shot 41.4% (24 of 58).

Second-half comeback: Fordham trailed by 11 early in the second half but quickly erased that deficit and took a 49-48 lead at the 15:05 mark.

Big baskets: Dayton led 69-68 when Holmes scored on a dunk at the 3:33 mark. Holmes hit a jumper with 1:37 to play to give Dayton a 75-70 lead. Holmes sealed the victory by making 3 of 4 free throws in the final minute. Fordham did not score in the last two minutes.

Looking ahead: Dayton plays George Mason (17-8, 6-6) at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Fairfax, Va. George Mason will enter the game after an eight-day break. It beat George Washington and Davidson in its last two games after losing three straight to Saint Joseph’s, Massachusetts and Loyola Chicago.

George Mason has won two straight games in the series. It won 74-69 at Dayton last season and won 50-49 at home in 2022.

HALFTIME RECAP

Dayton shot 68% from the field in the first half to build a 44-35 halftime lead against Fordham.

Here’s a quick recap of the half:

Key player: Javon Bennett made 6 of 7 shots, including 2 of 2 3-pointers, to score 14 points for Dayton.

Key stat: Dayton made 17 of 25 field goals, including 6 of 11 3-pointers.

Big run: Dayton led 25-24 with nine minutes to play. It began a 10-1 run on a jump shot by Enoch Cheeks at the 8:17 mark. The Flyers took their biggest lead, 35-25, on a 3-pointer by Holmes II at the 5:15 mark.

Hot shooter: Koby Brea made 2 of 2 3-pointers to push his season percentage to 49.6 (70 of 141). He leads the nation in 3-point accuracy.