La Salle ranked 53rd on the list. The Dayton Flyers were No. 79.
The list would look much different these days. La Salle annually finishes in the bottom half of the Atlantic 10 Conference. Dayton has made a habit of finishing in the top four and has played in the NCAA tournament five times since La Salle’s last appearance in 2013.
That history doesn’t matter, though, when Dayton plays La Salle in Philadelphia. A 67-64 loss Wednesday added to UD’s tortured history in an arena that underwent a major renovation in 2024 but remains a house of horrors for the Flyers.
La Salle outscored Dayton 33-8 in the first 11-plus minutes and held onto the lead the rest of the game despite Dayton making it a one-possession game five times in the last seven minutes.
“I don’t think we came out ready to play,” Dayton guard Javon Bennett said. “They punched us in the mouth, and we couldn’t really respond until 10 minutes in. But that’s on us. We got to figure out how to stop the bleeding and come back in that moment. We did a great job fighting back. We just fell short.”
“I just think we came out playing cool,” Dayton guard Keonte Jones said, “not taking the fight to them, trying to be cute and pretty.”
Dayton (14-5, 5-1) suffered its first Atlantic 10 Conference loss of the season and its worst loss period considering La Salle’s record (7-13, 3-4) and NCAA Evaluation Tool ranking (No. 236).
Here are three takeaways from Dayton’s 19th game:
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
1: Dayton failed on both sides of the ball in the first 11 minutes: Dayton got a lucky break on its first basket of the game. Jones got his hand on a rebound after a missed jumper by Bennett. The ball bounced high in the air and through the net. It went down as a tip-in basket, though that was not Jones’ intent.
That was also the only made field goal Dayton had in the first six minutes. Bennett made the second one with 13 minutes, 13 seconds to play in the first half. Then Dayton missed five straight shots and committed three turnovers in a five-minute stretch.
On the other end, La Salle scored 18 straight points, pushing a 15-8 lead to 33-8. The Explorers made six straight field goals during the run.
“Those first nine minutes or so set the tone,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said. “Not taking anything away from La Salle, but we just have to be better. We have to understand the identity that gives us a chance every night, and we didn’t do that. They were more aggressive. They were quicker to balls. They attacked us. They got easy stuff in transition. It kind of snowballed on us there.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
2: Dayton played much better the rest of the way, but it wasn’t enough: Dayton outscored La Salle 21-7 in the last 8:03 of the first half and faced a 40-29 halftime deficit.
In the second half, Dayton continued to chip away at the lead. A basket by Jones, who led Dayton with 14 points, cut the La Salle lead to 58-56 at the 6:53 mark.
“I thought we got off to a good start,” first-year La Salle coach Darris Nichols said. “I knew that they were going to make a run, especially because of the pressure and turnovers they force — what they’ve been doing the whole year. We knew they were going to make a run. We just had to withstand it."
After cutting the La Salle lead to two points, Dayton had three possessions with a chance to tie the game or take the lead and turned the ball over each time. Bennett committed two of those turnovers.
Twice more, baskets by Jones brought Dayton within two points. Dayton got another chance to tie the game or take the lead but again turned the ball over. This time it was Jacob Conner.
La Salle didn’t make a field goal in the last four minutes but held onto the lead by making 5 of 6 free throws.
In the final 10 seconds, Bennett missed two 3-pointers that would have tied the game. The second one was a desperation heave at the buzzer.
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.
“At the end of the day, we have to be able to play to our strengths,” Grant said. “We’ve got to understand what those are.”
Asked about those strengths, Jones said, “Getting to the rim. Getting to the free-throw line. Making one more pass to get the 3 instead of creating for ourselves to get the shot up. I feel when we touch the paint and we do kick-outs, that’s where we shine our best. Our identity, our strength, is defense, speeding teams up and making them play how we want to play.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
3: Dayton is getting healthier, though it didn’t help in this game: While Jordan Derkack missed his third straight game, forward Malcolm Thomas returned to action after missing five games with an injury. He had four points and four rebounds in nine minutes.
Amaël L’Etang made his second appearance since missing four games. He had three turnovers in five minutes in the first half and didn’t play in the second half.
“It’s one thing, obviously, for Malcolm and Amaël to be back on the court, but they haven’t played and haven’t practiced and haven’t done anything,” Grant said, “so it’s not fair to ask them to come out and be like, ‘OK, hey, because your injury’s better, you’re just gonna come out and play basketball and be in rhythm. That’s not how it happens. We can see that on the floor.”
NEXT GAME
Who: Dayton (14-5, 5-1) at Saint Joseph’s (11-8, 3-3)
When: 6 p.m., Saturday
TV: CBS Sports Network
Radio: 95.7-FM, 1290-AM
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