One of the fans was Corey Bennett, the father of Dayton guard Javon Bennett, a 5-foot-11 senior who carried the Flyers to victory with a 25-point performance.
“It makes you proud to see him doing his thing out there,” Corey said.
Bennett made 6 of 9 3-pointers. He has made six or more 3s three times in three seasons at Dayton.
Bennett has scored 25 or more points four times for the Flyers and is one of seven players to hit that total four or more times in coach Anthony Grant’s nine seasons, along with DaRon Holmes II (15), Obi Toppin (8), Josh Cunningham (6) and Darrell Davis, Toumani Camara and Jalen Crutcher (4 each).
Bennett continues to climb Dayton’s scoring list. He has 1,124 points in his UD career. He ranks 39th, between Chuck Grigsby and Kendall Pollard. He’s the only player under 6-foot who has scored 1,000 points for the Flyers. He’s the 19th player to reach the milestone in two or three seasons.
“Javon is just a hard-working kid,” his dad said.
While Bennett has cemented his legacy as one of the great players of the Grant years, he can add to it this month. Dayton plays two final regular-season games this week before traveling to Pittsburgh for the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament next week when it will try to end a 23-year drought in an event it has never won outside UD Arena.
Dayton has won five games in a row. Except for 2020, when it finished 18-0 in the A-10, it has never won its last seven A-10 games.
“This is what you want to be playing like in March,” Bennett said, “and I think we’re playing really well together right now. Hopefully, we can continue to do that into the postseason.“
Dayton (20-9, 11-5) plays 11th-place Richmond (15-14, 5-11) at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Robins Center in Virginia. With a victory Tuesday or Friday at home against Virginia Commonwealth, Dayton would secure a top-four seed — for the fifth straight season — and a double bye to the quarterfinals in the A-10 tournament.
Entering the final week, Dayton shares third place with Saint Joseph’s (19-10, 11-5). The Hawks play at Davidson and at home against La Salle this week. They own the head-to-head tiebreaker against Dayton.
Saint Louis (26-3, 14-2) and VCU (22-7, 13-3) occupy the top two spots in the standings.
Fifth-place George Mason (22-7, 10-6) also remains in contention for a top-four finish but would lose tiebreakers to Dayton and Saint Joseph’s. George Mason plays at VCU on Tuesday and at home against Saint Louis on Saturday.
Here are five things to know about Dayton’s 30th game:
Credit: David Jablonski
1: Series history: Dayton leads the series 23-11. It is 6-8 at the Robins Center and 3-1 in Grant’s tenure.
Dayton won nine straight games against Richmond before a 68-64 loss in the A-10 semifinals in 2022. Since then, Dayton has won two of three games in the series.
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.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
2: State of the program: Richmond finished 10-22 overall and 5-13 in the A-10 last season. It was the program’s worst season since 2006-07 (8-22, 4-10).
This is the 21st season for Richmond coach Chris Mooney, the longest-tenured coach in the A-10. He’s 373-304 with three NCAA tournament appearances (2010, 2011 and 2022).
Richmond was picked to finish eighth in the preseason poll this season.
3: Scouting report: AJ Lopez, a 6-foot-5 senior guard, leads Richmond with 13.9 points per game. He played the last two seasons at Maine after one season at New Hampshire.
• Aiden Argabright, a 5-11 freshman guard, averages 10.9 points.
• Will Johnston, a 6-3, sixth-year guard, averages 9.7 points. He played at Loyola Marymount the last two seasons.
• In A-10 play, Richmond ranks third in 3-point shooting percentage (37.8). Dayton ranks fourth (36.1).
• Richmond ranks last in the A-10 in rebounding margin (minus 7.5). Dayton ranks 12th (minus 2.6).
4: Season summary: Richmond finished 10-3 in non-conference play. It earned its best victory at Belmont on Dec. 3, winning 84-76. Belmont (26-4) ranks 53rd in the NCAA Evaluation Tool.
In A-10 play, Richmond started 3-2 and then lost six straight games. It is 1-4 against the top five teams in the standings with a victory against George Mason, two losses to VCU and losses to Saint Louis and Saint Joseph’s.
In its most recent game Saturday, Richmond shot a season-worst 29.8% (17 of 57), losing 69-66 at last-place Loyola Chicago (7-22, 3-13).
“We really shot poorly,” Mooney said in a story on the Richmond website. “If you have five turnovers in a game, and give up four offensive rebounds and force 16 turnovers ... we’re going to need to be able to make threes. In the second half especially — we were three for 16 — and I thought we had a bunch of open shots.”
Credit: David Jablonski
5: Odds & Ends: Dayton has a 60% chance of winning, according to KenPom.com, which predicts a 75-72 score.
Dayton climbed from No. 78 to No. 75 in the Pomeroy ratings after beating George Washington. Richmond is No. 141.
• Dayton is No. 71 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool. Richmond is No. 145.
This is a Quadrant 3 game for Dayton, which is 1-5 in Quad 1, 5-1 in Quad 2, 6-3 in Quad 3 and 8-0 in Quad 4.
This is a Quad 2 game for Richmond, which is 1-2 in Quad 1, 0-3 in Quad 2, 7-7 in Quad 3 and 6-2 in Quad 4.
• Dayton reached the 20-win mark Friday for the fifth straight season. It’s the first time since 2007-12 the program has reached the milestone five years in a row. Dayton also won 20 or more games from 1999-2004 and 1964-69. It has never won 20 or more games six seasons in a row.
NEXT GAME
Who: Dayton at Richmond
When: 7 p.m., Tuesday
TV: ESPN+
Radio: 95.7-FM, 1290-AM
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