Dayton beats Saint’s Joe’s for 6th straight win

DAYTON — The Dayton Flyers got behind to start the game but proved to be too much for the Saint Joseph’s Hawks in a 76-56 victory Wednesday night at the UD Arena. UD has now won six games in a row.

DaRon Holmes II led the Flyers with 20 points and 12 rebounds for his third straight double-double, seventh for the season. R.J. Blakney added 19 points, matching his career-high, while Toumani Camara scored 14 and Mustapha Amzil had 11 points.

The Flyers trailed by as much as six points, 25-19, with 8:53 left in the first half but Holmes scored four straight points and Blakney had five consecutive points as part of an 11-0 run to go up, 31-25, as Dayton never looked back.

UD improves to 11-5 overall, 3-0 in the Atlantic 10.

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Saint Joseph’s scored to start the game with a Kacper Klaczek layup and Erik Reynolds II’s three-pointer gave them a 12-9 advantage. He added another trey and Klaczek’s two foul shots extended it 25-19.

Holmes’ block and dunk got the crowd at UD Arena to its feet as they trailed, 25-23. Mike Sharavjamts’ three put the Flyers ahead for good, 26-25, with 7:48 left in the first half. Blakney added seven straight points to extend it to 33-28. Amzil’s three-pointer and two free throws by Holmes gave Dayton a 38-30 halftime lead.

Camara’s trey increase the advantage to 46-34 in the second half. Amzil’s steal led to a fast break dunk by Holmes to expand it to 48-34 with 14:48 to play.

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UD maintained a solid double digit lead throughout the second half and Sharavjamts’ alley-oop to Amzil with 32 seconds remaining gave the Flyers their largest lead of the game, 76-55.

Dayton made 57% of their shots on 28-49 shooting, including shooting just under 61% in the second half. UD went 10-20 from three-point line and had 21 assists to 11 turnovers. Camara dished out six assists while Sharavjamts had four assists.

The Flyer defense held the Hawks to 31% shooting, including over 27% in the second half. Saint Joseph’s shot 5-24 from three-point range, including 1-11 in the second half.

Dayton’s next game will be Tuesday, January 10, when they travel to Bronx, New York to play the Fordham Rams at Rose Hill Gymnasium.

Tip-off is at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on WHIO Radio. You can also listen to the game here at WHIO.com.

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