Dayton basketball: Flyers rally in final minute to win at George Washington

What it means: Dayton (20-9, 11-5) won its fifth straight game after losing five times in a six-game stretch. The Flyers swept the two-game series from George Washington and ended a two-game losing streak at the Smith Center.

With two games to play, Dayton sits alone in third place in the Atlantic 10 Conference. It has a half-game lead over Saint Joseph’s (18-10, 10-5), which plays at Rhode Island on Saturday.

George Washington (16-13, 7-9) suffered its first home loss since Jan. 31 against Fordham. It fell to ninth place.

Star of the game: Dayton’s Javon Bennett made 6 of 9 3-pointers and scored 25 points.

Stats of the game: Dayton shot 45.8% (11 of 25) from 3-point range. George Washington shot 30% (6 of 20).

Dayton shot 81% (17 of 21) at the free-throw line. George Washington shot 55.2% (16 of 29).

Big plays: Dayton led 64-60 after a basket by Jaiun Simon with 3 minutes, 49 seconds to play. George Washington then scored six straight points to take a 66-64 lead with 46 seconds to play.

Bennett made one free throw but missed the second with 21 seconds to play. After Bennett’s miss, Dayton intentionally fouled Rafael Castro, who missed both free throws.

Amaël L’Etang grabbed the rebound after the second miss and was fouled with 17 seconds remaining. He made both to give Dayton a 67-66 lead.

In the final seconds, George Washington missed two shots. Keonte Jones blocked the first. De’Shayne Montgomery got the rebound after the second miss and then made 1 of 2 free throws with 0.4 seconds to play.

George Washington did not get off a shot with one final play.

Looking ahead: Dayton plays Richmond (15-13, 5-10) at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Robins Center in Virginia. The Spiders play at Loyola Chicago on Saturday.

Dayton beat Richmond 74-64 in double overtime last season at UD Arena. Dayton forward Nate Santos made a game-tying layup at the buzzer in the first overtime,.

In its last trip to Richmond in 2024, Dayton lost 69-64, ending a four-game winning streak at the arena. Prior to that streak, Dayton lost six straight games at Richmond.

HALFTIME RECAP

Dayton led by as many as 14 points in the first half but took a 34-31 lead into halftime:

Key players: Dayton’s Bennett scored 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting. He made 4 of 5 3-pointers.

Trey Autry led George Washington with 10 points. He made 2 of 4 3-pointers and 4 of 5 free throws.

Key stat: Dayton shot 46.2% (6 of 13) from 3-point range. George Washington shot 20% (2 of 10).

Good start: Dayton opened the game with a 6-0 run on two 3s by Bennett. Then with Dayton leading 7-3, the Flyers outscored George Washington 12-2 in a six-minute stretch to take a 19-5 lead at the 10:23 mark.

Turnover issues: George Washington committed 10 turnovers. Dayton had nine.

Injury news: Dayton’s Bryce Heard returned to action after missing one game with an injury. He had three rebounds and three points in 14 minutes in the first half.