Loyola hands Dayton fourth A-10 road loss

Here’s a quick recap of the game:

What it means: Dayton (22-6, 12-4) fell into third place with two games to play, while Loyola (20-9, 13-3) moved a game ahead of the Flyers and within one half game of first-place Richmond (21-7, 13-2).

Dayton has lost four of its last five road games. The losses are to Richmond, Loyola, Virginia Commonwealth and George Mason. The Flyers have not played any of those teams at home but get a visit from VCU next Friday in the final game of the regular season.

Stars of the game: Desmond Watson scored 24 points for Loyola on 9-of-13 shooting.

DaRon Holmes II led Dayton with 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting.

Key stat: Dayton committed a season-high 22 turnovers. Loyola scored 20 points off those turnovers.

Big plays: Dayton rallied from a seven-point deficit to tie the game with 4:37 to play. The game was tied again at the 3:56 mark after a basket by Holmes.

Loyola then made three 3-pointers in the last 3:06. The last one, by Braden Norris, gave the Ramblers a 75-70 lead with 19 seconds to play.

Injury news: Dayton point guard Javon Bennett did not play in the second half. He had an ice wrap on his left hand and then wore a brace on the bench.

Looking ahead: Dayton plays Saint Louis (10-18, 3-12) at 9 p.m. Tuesday at Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis. The Flyers won the first matchup 70-65 on Jan. 16 at UD Arena.

Dayton lost 65-61 in its last visit to Saint Louis in the final game of the regular season a year ago. Two years ago, Dayton lost 72-61 at Saint Louis. The Flyers swept the season series in 2020 and 2021.

Saint Louis plays at Rhode Island (11-17 5-10) on Saturday. The Billikens are tied for last place with George Washington (14-14, 3-12).

HALFTIME RECAP

Dayton led for the last 16 minutes of the first half and took a 35-32 lead into halftime. Here’s a quick recap of the first half:

Key players: Holmes II led Dayton with 10 points and seven rebounds. Watson scored 16 points for Loyola, making 4 of 5 3-pointers.

Key stat: Dayton shot 50% from the field (13 of 26) to Loyola’s 30.3% (10 of 33), but Dayton had 11 turnovers and Loyola had six.

Big run: Dayton scored seven straight points after Loyola took a 3-0 lead.

Big plays: Nate Santos made a 3-pointer to give Dayton its largest lead, 35-29 in the final minute, but Loyola guard Braden Norris was fouled on a 3-point attempt with four seconds to play and made all three free throws to cut Dayton’s lead to 35-32 at the half.