What it means: Dayton (14-5, 5-1) saw a five-game winning streak end and fell out of a group of three teams without an A-10 loss. This ranks as its worst loss of the season. La Salle ranks 236th in the NCAA Evaluation Tool.
Saint Louis and George Mason (both 18-1 overall and 6-0 in the A-10) share first place one third of the way through the 18-game schedule.
La Salle (7-13, 3-4) beat Dayton in Philadelphia for the fifth time in the last seven games. Dayton is 11-12 at La Salle since joining the A-10 in the 1995-96 season.
Stars of the game: Jaeden Marshall led La Salle with 25 points on 7-of-11 shooting. He scored 23 points in the previous game against St. Bonaventure.
Keonte Jones led Dayton with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting.
Stat of the game: Dayton shot 13% (3 of 23) from 3-point range. It posted its worst percentage since making 2 of 26 (7.7%) in a 74-62 loss at Cincinnati in November.
La Salle shot 32% (7 of 22) from 3-point range.
Key moment: Dayton chipped away at an 11-point halftime deficit throughout the second half but got no closer than one point.
Jones cut the deficit to 65-64 with two free throws with 26 seconds to play. La Salle answered with two free throws to push the lead to 67-64.
Bennett then missed a 3-pointer with eight seconds to play. After a free throw miss by La Salle, Bennett missed another 3 from near halfcourt as time expired. Bennett made 1 of 7 3s and scored 11 points.
Looking ahead: Dayton will stay in Philadelphia until playing Saint Joseph’s (11-8,3 -3) at 6 p.m. Saturday at Hagan Arena.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
HALFTIME RECAP
Dayton trailed by as many as 25 points in the first half and faced a 40-29 halftime deficit.
Here’s a quick recap of the first half:
Key players: Marshall scored 12 points off the bench for La Salle. He made 3 of 3 field goals, including 2 of 2 3-pointers, and 4 of 4 free throws.
Javon Bennett led Dayton with eight points on 3-of-7 shooting.
Key stat: La Salle shot 59% (13 of 22) from the field. Dayton shot 46% (11 of 24).
Big run: La Salle used an 18-0 spurt in a five-minute stretch to turn a 15-8 lead into a 33-8 advantage at the 8:52 mark.
Comeback: De’Shayne Montgomery ended the La Salle run with a layup at the 8:03 mark. That started a 7-0 Dayton run.
Dayton outscored La Salle 7-2 in the last three minutes to cut the deficit to 11 points.
Lineup news: Malcolm Thomas returned to action after missing five games with an injury. He had three points in five minutes in the half.
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