The break in the action gave Grant a chance to walk onto the court to celebrate with his players. He pumped his fist several times before bumping chests with Smith.
Dayton led 69-62 at that moment. The dunk capped a 15-2 run that carried Dayton to a 75-67 victory in its final home of the 2024-25 season.
“It’s a great feeling to get the W, especially in the last home game,” Dayton forward Zed Key said. “It was a great atmosphere. The place was rocking.”
As always, Dayton played in the game in front of 13,407 fans. The 77th sellout in a row — every game of the past four seasons and the last 11 games in the 2019-20 season — included comedian Dave Chappelle. The longtime Yellow Springs resident visited UD Arena for the first time. He watched the game from a courtside seat and posed for photos with Grant and Dayton players after the game.
Judging by his reaction to seeing Chappelle in the tunnel leading to the locker room after the game, Grant was as excited to meet Chappelle and hug him as he was about the victory.
“I told the guys before the game it was going to take everything we had as a unit to be able to get the win,” Grant said. “We owed that to each other, and we owed it to our fan base. This is unbelievable — the support from Flyer Nation. We’re grateful for that. We’re grateful for the fight that our guys showed tonight to put us in a position to get the win. Just a great night overall.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Dayton (21-9, 11-6) won its final home game for the 14th straight season. For the second year in a row, it had to overcome a double-digit deficit. It trailed Virginia Commonwealth by 17 at halftime in the final home game in 2024 and won 91-86 in overtime.
Against Saint Louis (17-13, 10-7), Dayton fell behind by as many as 15 points in the first half. It faced a 13-point deficit at halftime. Saint Louis led by as many as 14 points in the opening minutes of the second half.
“We knew we’d just have to grind it out on the defensive end, turn up the pressure on them, try to have our defense create some offense and get some flow and some continuity,” Grant said. “I thought the difference was our pressure wore them down in the second half.”
Dayton escaped from a double-digit hole to win for the third time this season.
• In the second game of the season, Dayton trailed Northwestern by 13 points in the first half and faced a 51-41 deficit with 10:50 to play. The Flyers took control with a 15-1 run and won 71-66.
• In a 71-66 victory against Marquette on Dec. 14, Dayton trailed 39-26 in the opening minute of the second half.
Improved play on defense helped Dayton turn the game around.
“The coaching staff came in (at halftime),” Key said, “and was like, ‘Look, we’ve got to play defense. Otherwise you’re not going to win the game.’ We hunkered down and got stops.”
Saint Louis shot 51.7% from the field (15 of 29) in the first half and 33.3% (11 of 33) in the second half. One game after setting a school record with nine 3-pointers in a 98-67 victory against Loyola Chicago, sixth-year Saint Louis guard Gibson Jimerson made 5 of 7 3-pointers in the first half.
“It’s difficult because you can’t simulate what he does,” Grant said. “He’s got an elite skill set and an extremely high IQ. He knows how to score.”
Jimerson made 2 of 8 3s in the second half. After setting a school record with 18 3s against Loyola, Saint Louis made 12 of 32 against Dayton. Isaiah Swope led the Billikens with 28 points on 11-of-17 shooting but scored only two points in the last nine minutes.
“He played a heck of a game,” Grant said. “He shot the ball really well. He gave us problems really in both halves, but I thought in the second half, we made it a little bit harder for him.”
The Billikens lost their 11th straight game at UD Arena since a victory in January 2014. Dayton swept the two-game regular-season series for the fourth time in Grant’s eight seasons.
“In the second half they were much more physical and played with more force at both ends,” Schertz said in a story by longtime SLU beat writer Stu Durando. “They beat us up on the glass, beat us to loose balls. It’s disappointing. Losing stinks no matter what but wilting with adversity and not being able to fight back the way we needed (stinks more).”
Credit: David Jablonski
Dayton needed two comebacks to beat Saint Louis. It tied the game with a 16-2 run only to have Saint Louis answer with a 7-1 run.
Back-to-back 3s by Enoch Cheeks tied the game at the 7:05 mark and started a 15-2 Dayton run in a 2½-minute stretch. Dayton made six shots in a row in that stretch with Nate Santos and Cheeks both converting 3-point plays.
Dayton made 10 of 25 3s (40%) after making 11 of 28 (39.3%) in a 71-63 victory at Saint Louis on Jan. 31. Five Flyers scored in double figures: Cheeks (17); Santos (13); Javon Bennett (10); Amaël L’Etang (10); and Key (10).
Dayton finished with a 16-2 home record this season after recording a perfect 15-0 season at home last season.
“It’s sad that it comes to an end at UD Arena,” Cheeks said. “I’m just cherishing this moment, going out in this fashion. Obviously, we want to win by as much as we can and for it to be an easy game, but going out like this makes it even better.”
Dayton moved into third place in the Atlantic 10 Conference with one game to play. It can clinch a top-four seed in the A-10 tournament with a victory at first-place Virginia Commonwealth (25-5, 15-2) on Friday.
The Flyers have won three games in a row and 10 of 13 games since a 1-3 start in league play.
“We’re picking up momentum,” Cheeks said.
FRIDAY’S GAME
Dayton at VCU, 7 p.m., ESPN2, 95.7, 1290
Credit: David Jablonski
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