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Dayton (15-8, 7-3) fell out of a tie for second place in the Atlantic 10 Conference with George Mason (13-9, 7-2) and into fourth place behind third-place Virginia Commonwealth (15-6, 6-2 ). Saint Louis (15-8, 6-4), which began the day tied with Rhode Island (12-9, 5-4) moved into sixth place all by itself.
Josh Cunningham led the Flyers with 12 points and seven rebounds. Obi Toppin and Jalen Crutcher each scored 11.
D.J. Foreman scored 18 points for Saint Louis. Javon Bess had 14 points.
Dayton returns to action at 4 p.m. Saturday at Rhode Island.
HALFTIME RECAP
The Flyers ended the first half on an 8-0 run but faced a 34-22 halftime deficit.
The Billikens opened the game on an 8-0 run and led by as many as 20 points. They dominated the offensive boards, grabbing 11 to Dayton’s three and beat Dayton 16-1 on second-chance points. The Flyers scored four points in the first eight minutes.
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Dayton gained a bit of momentum in the final 78 seconds with a 3-point play by Cunningham, followed by a dunk by Cunningham and then a 3-pointer by Dwayne Cohill with four seconds left in the half.
Cohill’s 3-pointer ended an 0-for-10 drought from long range for Dayton, which started its last game against Duquesne on Saturday with nine straight misses.
Cunningham led the Flyers with eight points. Cohill had five points. Trey Landers, who came off the bench for the first time with Obi Toppin entering the starting lineup, scored four. Toppin, who scored 70 points in the last three games, had three points in the first half.
Dayton shot 35 percent from the field. Saint Louis shot 43 percent. D.J. Foreman scored 13 points for the Billikens on 6-of-6 shooting.
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