Dayton ties school 3-point record in rout of Saint Louis

Here’s a quick recap of the game:

What it means: Dayton (23-6, 13-4) swept the season series from Saint Louis for the first time since 2021. UD took another step toward locking up a NCAA tournament at-large berth, if they hadn’t done that already, by avoiding a Quadrant 3 loss. Dayton is now 15-0 in Quads 3 and 4.

With one game left in the regular season, Dayton trails Richmond (22-7, 14-2) and Loyola Chicago (21-8, 13-3) in the Atlantic 10 Conference standings. The Flyers can not finish worse than third. Virginia Commonwealth (19-11, 11-6) lost 69-59 at home to Duquesne on Tuesday to fall two games behind Dayton.

Player of the game: Dayton’s DaRon Holmes II scored 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting.

Stat of the game: Dayton made 18 of 33 3-pointers (54.5%). It made 18 of 34 in a 91-67 victory against Oakland. The previous school record of 17 made 3-pointers on 32 attempts was set in a 106-79 victory against Virginia Commonwealth on Jan. 12, 2018.

Koby Brea and Kobe Elvis each made 5 of 8 3-pointers and scored 21 points.

Dayton also broke the Chaifetz Arena record for made 3-pointers. The previous record was 16.

Scoring milestone: Dayton hit the 100-point mark for the first time since a 106-79 victory against VCU at UD Arena in 2018.

Looking ahead: Dayton plays VCU at 7 p.m. Friday at UD Arena in the final game of the regular season. UD plans to honor three players before the game: fifth-year forward Zimi Nwokeji; fourth-year guard Kobe Elvis; and graduate student C.J. Napier, a walk-on who played the last four seasons at Ohio Northern. Nwokeji and Elvis both have one season of eligibility remaining after this one if they choose to use it.

Dayton lost 49-47 at VCU on Feb. 9. VCU has won 11 of the last 15 games in the series.

VCU has won three games in a row against Dayton at UD Arena. Last season, Dayton gave up a 5-0 run to VCU in the last 28 seconds at UD Arena and lost 63-62. In 2022, Dayton fell 53-52 at UD Arena when Adrian “Ace” Baldwin made a go-ahead 3-pointer with six seconds to play. VCU beat Dayton 76-67 at UD Arena in 2021.

HALFTIME RECAP

Dayton outscored Saint Louis 28-10 in the last nine minutes of the first half to build a 49-35 halftime lead. Here’s a quick recap of the first half:

Key players: Holmes scored 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting. Santos and Brea each scored 10.

Key stat: Dayton made 8 of 17 3-pointers (47.1%). Santos made 2 of 2. Brea made 2 of 3.

Big run: Dayton trailed 25-21 with 9:12 to play. A free throw by Holmes started an 11-0 run. Dayton took its first lead, 27-25, on a 3-pointer by Brea at the 7:38 mark.

Kobe Elvis scored the final five points in the run, two on free throws after Saint Louis was called for an intentional foul and then on a 3-pointer.

Rotation news: With Javon Bennett sidelined by a thumb injury and Zimi Nwokeji not at the game for undisclosed reasons, Dayton had eight scholarship players available.

Brady Uhl, a former walk-on awarded a scholarship this semester, played 10 minutes in the half. He had played 17 minutes all season. Uhl made his first 3-point attempt before missing his next two.