Dayton basketball: Flyers fall to 0-3 vs. VCU in A-10 championship games

What it means: Dayton (23-11), which advanced with a 70-69 last-second victory against No. 1 seed Saint Louis in the semifinals, failed to win the A-10 tournament for the 22nd straight time the event has been held. It has not won the championship since 2003. The tournament was cancelled in 2020 when Dayton finished 18-0 in the A-10.

Dayton will fail to earn a NCAA tournament bid for the seventh time in Grant’s tenure, if you count the bid it would have received if the 2020 tournament had not been cancelled.

VCU (27-7) beat Dayton for the third time this season and improved to 3-0 against Dayton in A-10 championship games and 5-0 against Dayton in the A-10 tournament.

VCU became the first team to repeat as A-10 champion since Temple from three straight titles from 2008-10. The Rams improved to 4-6 in A-10 title games in 14 seasons in the league.

VCU will earn a NCAA tournament bid for the 10th time since joining the A-10.

Stars of the game: Nyk Lewis led VCU with 17 points on 5-of-10 shooting.

Javon Bennett scored 14 points on 6-of-16 shooting.

Stat of the game: VCU shot 46% (11 of 24) from 3-point range. Dayton shot 33% (7 of 21).

Missed chances: Dayton faced a double-digit deficit for most of the second half but trimmed the VCU lead to 10 points with 5 minutes, 13 seconds to play.

On its next two possessions, with a chance to cut the lead to single digits, Amaël L’Etang and Keonte Jones missed the front end of 1-and-1 opportunities. Then Jordan Derkack made 1 of 2 free throws.

Dayton shot 80.7% (46 of 57) in the first two games of the tournament and 53% (9 of 17) in the final game.

Looking ahead: Dayton likely will receive a National Invitational Championship bid for the fifth time in nine seasons. That bracket will be announced at 9:30 p.m. Sunday.

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Virginia Commonwealth's Nyk Lewis makes a 3-pointer against Dayton on the first possession in the Atlantic 10 Conference championship game on Sunday, March 15, 2026, at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. David Jablonski/Staff

HALFTIME RECAP

Virginia Commonwealth made 8 of 14 3-pointers to build a 40-25 halftime lead

The Rams led for all but one possession in the first half. Dayton tied the game at 10-10 after falling behind 8-3, but the Rams took the lead right back with a 3-pointer with 13 minutes, 4 seconds to play in the half.

Here’s a quick recap of the first half:

Key players: Lewis and Terrence Hill Jr. each scored nine for VCU. Lewis made 3 of 3 3-pointers.

L’Etang scored seven points on 2-of-3 shooting for Dayton.

Key stat: VCU shot 57% from 3-point range, while Dayton shot 33% (3 of 9).

Big run: VCU outscored Dayton 16-4 in a six-minute stretch to turn a 24-19 lead into a 40-23 advantage with 1:01 to play.