Saint Joseph’s coach: Dayton ‘deepest, most talented team’ in A-10

A number of the Dayton players arrived at the game at halftime and sat in one corner of the stands.

Dayton wanted to know who it would play at 5 p.m. Thursday in the quarterfinals and got its answer: it’s Saint Joseph’s, which scored a minor upset with an 87-76 victory against George Washington.

Dayton beat Saint Joseph’s 76-56 on Jan. 4 at UD Arena and won 74-62 at Saint Joseph’s last season.

“VCU has had an amazing season,” Saint Joseph’s coach Billy Lange said. “Their collective energy and spirit, you can see it on film. You sense it when you play them. They deserve to be the league champion. Fordham is a tough team. St. Louis is a tough team. They’re very good. When I think of Dayton from player one to the last guy that comes off the bench, I feel like they’re the deepest, most talented team in our conference. That’s not a knock on the other teams. Other teams are really good. (Dayton’s) very hard to beat. They have a unique offense. It’s systematic. They chug through it. Every player knows what to do. They’re physical on defense. They’re going to be well rested.

“What we take from that (first game) is were a completely different team. We’re a different team than we were two weeks ago with (Ejike Obinna) out. We’re going to have to just stay in it enough to give ourselves a chance to win at the end. Dayton’s terrific. They’ve got a terrific leader. They got a great program. I think the world of Dayton. They’re very, very good. We’re going to have to play great.”

On Tuesday, Saint Joseph’s announced the 6-foot-10 forward Obinna, a graduate student who’s their fourth-leading scorer (8.4 points per game), will miss the rest of the season with a foot injury. He did not play in the last three regular-season games. He had five points in 12 minutes against Dayton.

Against George Washington, Saint Joseph’s overcame an early 13-point deficit and led 42-41 at halftime. It was a close game throughout the second half. The Hawks broke a 67-67 tie with a 5-0 run and then pulled away in the final two minutes.

Erik Reynolds, who averages 19.2 points per game, scored a career-high 34 points for the Hawks. Cameron Brown scored 18. Former Dayton guard Lynn Greer III scored 14.

In the first game against the Hawks, Dayton’s DaRon Holmes II scored 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting. R.J. Blakney scored 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting. Dayton made 50% of its 3-point attempts (10 of 20).

Last season at Saint Joseph’s, five Flyers scored in double figures: Holmes (18); Malachi Smith (16); Kobe Elvis (13); Toumani Camara (12); and Koby Brea (10).

In the A-10 tournament, Dayton is 4-3 against Saint Joseph’s.

Saint Joseph’s eliminated Dayton in the semifinals in 2016 in Brooklyn, winning 82-79. Two years earlier in Brooklyn, Dayton lost 70-67 to the Hawks in the quarterfinals.

Dayton beat Saint Joseph’s 64-61 in the semifinals in 2011. Saint Joseph’s beat Dayton 67-55 in the first round in 2006. In 2003, Dayton beat Saint Joseph’s 76-73 in the semifinals en route to its first championship.

Dayton also beat Saint Joseph’s 81-74 in the quarterfinals in 2002 and 67-64 in the quarterfinals in 2000.

Saint Joseph’s lost four games in a row before beating Richmond 83-67 in Philadelphia in the final game of the regular season. It then beat No. 15 seed Loyola Chicago 72-67 in the first round Tuesday. Greer scored 22 to lead the Hawks in the first round.