Dayton Flyers dominate Davidson in Atlantic 10 Conference opener

DAVIDSON, N.C. — The Dayton Flyers won their eighth straight game and opened the Atlantic 10 Conference season with a dominant performance in a 72-59 victory against Davidson on Wednesday at Belk Arena.

Explore» PHOTOS: Dayton vs. Davidson

Here’s a quick recap of the game:

What it means: Dayton (11-2) has won eight games in a row for the first time since the 2019-20 season when it won its last 20 games. The Flyers have won eight straight games in the series against Davidson and five straight games at Belk Arena.

Star of the game: Kobe Elvis had 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting. He made 3 of 6 3-pointers.

Other top performers: DaRon Holmes led Dayton with 18 points. Nate Santos added 16 points.

Stat of the game: Dayton had 18 points on 15 Davidson turnovers.

Turning point: Dayton led from start to finish and had a double-digit lead throughout the second half. It pushed the advantage to as many as 19 points.

Looking ahead: Dayton plays Massachusetts (10-3, 1-0) at 1 p.m. Sunday at UD Arena. Dayton won 72-54 at UMass last season. UMass won 80-61 at home against Duquesne on Wednesday.

Dayton has won seven straight games in the series against UMass — by a combined margin of 109 points — since an 86-82 double-overtime loss at UMass in 2018.

HALFTIME RECAP

Dayton led from the start and outscored Davidson 9-1 in the last five minutes of the first half to build a 36-21 halftime lead

Here’s a quick recap of the half:

Key player: Elvis led all scorers with 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting. He made 2 of 3-pointers.

Key stat: Dayton shot 51.9% (15 of 29) from the field, while Davidson shot 30.8% (8 of 26).

Big run: Dayton led 8-7 with 13:43 to play when it began a 10-0 run over the next four minutes.

Defensive star: Dayton guard Javon Bennett made two steals that led directly to Dayton baskets.

Lineup news: Davidson’s leading scorer, center David Skogman (13.0 points per game), missed his second straight game. He was not in uniform and was on the bench with a protective boot on his right foot.

• Dayton freshman forward Petras Padegimas made the trip to North Carolina but was not available for the game because of an illness. Zimi Nwokeji took the place of Padegimas in the rotation and had two rebounds in four minutes in the first half.