Every time a GW player stepped to the line, she started jumping up and down in the second deck behind the basket.
For that effort, she deserves a small percent of the credit for Dayton’s 68-66 victory. The Revolutionaries shot 50% (11 of 22) at the line in the second half. Two misses by Rafael Castro with 20 seconds remaining opened the door for a late Dayton rally.
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 by Tyrone Marshall.
“The coaches told me I’ve got to guard the player who was taking the shot,” Jones said, “so I came up with the stop. That’s why I came here — to bring the intensity and be a game-changer. That’s what they got me for. So that’s what I did.“
Rafael Castro grabbed the rebound after the block but missed a shot at the rim. De’Shayne Montgomery got the rebound after Castro’s 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.
Asked to sum up his team’s fifth straight victory, Dayton coach Anthony Grant said, “Toughness. (George Washington) is a really talented team. They’re getting healthy at the right time. I think they’re as talented as anybody else that we’ve played in this league, and we knew it was going to be a tough, hard-fought game. To be able to come in here and win, I’m proud of our guys for doing that.”
The Flyers swept the two-game series from George Washington and ended a two-game losing streak at the Smith Center with their first victory at the arena since 2022.
“It took every guy on the court in red and also our coaches,” Montgomery said. “We just needed to believe in and trust in one another.”
Here are three takeaways from Dayton’s 29th game:
1: Javon Bennett carried the offense: The senior guard made 6 of 9 3-pointers and scored 25 points. He was a big reason Dayton shot 45.8% (11 of 25) from 3-point range. George Washington shot 30% (6 of 20).
In the five-game winning streak, Bennett has made 17 of 36 3-pointers (47.2%). He improved his scoring average to 16.2 and his season 3-point shooting percentage to 34.3.
Grant praised Bennett’s steadiness and toughness.
“He’s been an anchor for us all year,” Grant said, “and it’s always great when shots fall like they did.”
Bennett started the scoring with two 3s, giving Dayton a 6-0 lead. He made one more in a 19-5 run by Dayton in the first 10 minutes.
“It felt good,” Bennett said. “I saw the first one go in and the second one go in, too. I kind of had a rhythm early in the game, and I just tried to continue that through the whole game.”
2: The Flyers leaned on their strength at the line: Dayton shot 81% (17 of 21) at the free-throw line. George Washington shot 55.2% (16 of 29).
The Flyers lead the A-10 in free-throw shooting during conference play (77.2). They lead the country in free-throw rate (48.0), which measures a team’s ability to get to the line. They rank fourth in the country in the percentage of their total points they score at the line (25.7).
All that came into play in the final 30 seconds. After George Washington capped a 6-0 run with a tie-breaking basket by Tyrone Marshall with 46 seconds to play, Bennett drove to the basket and drew a foul. He made 1 of 2 to cut George Washington’s lead to 66-65.
The misses by Castro and the made free throws by L’Etang followed.
“I told him after the game he saved my butt,” Bennett said.
3: Dayton improved its chances of earning a top-four seed in the A-10 tournament: With two games to play — Tuesday at Richmond and Friday at home against Virginia Commonwealth Dayton sits alone in third place. It has a half-game lead over Saint Joseph’s (18-10, 10-5), which plays at Rhode Island on Saturday.
“I feel good,” Grant said. “This stretch here, five games in 12 days, was tough. To get all of them, it’s big.”
George Washington (16-13, 7-9) suffered its first home loss since Jan. 31 against Fordham. It fell to ninth place with its fourth A-10 loss by three points or fewer.
“I believe that we found a lot of difficult ways to lose these close ones this season,” coach Chris Caputo said. “Frustrating is not the word. I would just say it’s hard to deal with. It’s hard to go that way.”
NEXT GAME
Who: Dayton at Richmond
When: 7 p.m., Tuesday
TV: ESPN+
Radio: 95.7-FM, 1290-AM
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