As Dayton guard Jordan Derkack dribbled the ball up the court in the final seconds, many fans had to flash back to decades of frustration in this tournament.
• The Langston Galloway push-off in a semifinal loss to Saint Joseph’s in 2014.
• The Davidson upset in the quarterfinals here in Pittsburgh in 2017.
• The canceled tournament of 2020.
• The Malachi Smith ankle injury in a semifinal loss to Richmond in 2022.
• A-10 championship game losses in 2011, 2015 and 2023.
The list goes on. Not since Dayton won its only A-10 tournament in 2003 has it enjoyed a moment like it had Saturday in the final second.
Derkack dribbled to the hoop, used a spin move to create room and then threw up a wild reverse shot that went almost straight up in the air and would have fallen to the court without touching rim if not for the presence of the tallest player in Dayton basketball history, 7-foot-1 sophomore Amaël L’Etang.
L’Etang and Avila jumped for the ball. L’Etang got a hand on it and knocked it through the hoop with 0.6 seconds remaining. After a review by the officials to determine how much time to put on the clock and a timeout by Dayton, Quentin Jones, of Saint Louis, missed a desperation heave at the buzzer.
No. 4 seed Dayton (23-10) advanced to the A-10 championship game with a 70-69 victory, beating a No. 1 seed for the first time since 2011 and ending a six-game losing streak against higher seeds in the tournament.
“I would say not even the last play, but the last 30 seconds were crazy,” L’Etang said. “There were no timeouts. Jacob Conner hit a three. Avila hit a three. To be honest, I don’t know what happened. I got to watch the clip again. ... I don’t really know. I just tried my best to put the ball back on the rim, and that worked pretty well.”
Dayton forward Jaiun Simon watched the play from the bench.
“I’m not gonna lie, I’m still in shock,” he said. “I couldn’t believe what happened.”
L’Etang experienced his second last-second game-winning shot in two seasons at Dayton. He caught a 55-foot alley-oop pass from Malachi Smith to score with 0.2 seconds to play in an 83-81 victory against Loyola Chicago at UD Arena last season.
Had Derkack drawn a foul on the last play or scored, no one would have been surprised. He made 12 of 15 free throws and scored 28 points, matching the highest total by a Flyer in the tournament since 2005.
Instead, L’Etang grabbed the headline.
“Coaches get mad at him because he wants to stay on the perimeter too much,” Derkack said. “It paid off, him going to the glass. Maybe he’ll go to the glass more.”
Dayton will play No. 2 seed Virginia Commonwealth (26-7) at 1 p.m. Sunday in the championship game. The game will air on CBS. It will be the third final between the Flyers and Rams, who won the matchup in 2015 and 2023.
VCU beat No. 3 seed Saint Joseph’s 77-64 in the semifinals to improve to 10-0 in A-10 semifinals.
Saint Louis (28-5) will head to the NCAA tournament with two losses to Dayton in its last six games.
Credit: David Jablonski
Here are three takeaways from Dayton’s 33rd game:
1: The Flyers rallied from 11-point deficits in each half: In the first half, Dayton overcame an early 15-4 deficit to take the lead but fell behind again and trailed 36-33 at halftime.
Saint Louis made two 3s to start the second half and pushed its lead to as many as 11 points before Dayton again rallied.
Dayton trailed 49-38 with 14:56 to play in the game but took the lead on a 3 by Derkack with 8:09 to play.
The Flyers then built a five-point lead before giving up a 9-0 run to Saint Louis.
After a 3 by Derkack tied the game at the 2:40 mark, Saint Louis held the lead until the 3 by Conner with 11 seconds to play.
“Big time plays,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said. “Guys stepped up in a lot of different ways, offensively and defensively. Hats off to Saint Louis. They’re a really, really talented team. Obviously, league champs. And we knew it was going to be a battle, and it would take everything in terms of our focus, our energy, our effort. Just happy that we were able to find a way.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
2: Dayton played a rare lineup throughout its second-half comeback: With Dayton trailing by 11 points with 13:43 to play, Bryce Heard and Jacob Conner replaced starter De’Shayne Montgomery and Keonte Jones.
Dayton didn’t make another substitution until Jones replaced Conner with 2:39 remaining, at which point the game was tied at 39-39.
Conner then reentered the game when Heard fouled out with 40 seconds remaining.
“I think they were more massive on the offensive end,” Grant said. “Against a team like Saint Louis, you’ve got to be able to score the ball. We got into a hole because we were really struggling to have any offensive continuity early. So those guys were able to get us to spacing and open up some avenues for Javon (Bennett) and for Jordan. They were able to stretch the floor a little bit to help us there. Once we were able to score, we were able to set our defense. And I thought when we set our defense, we were really good on the half court for the most part.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
3: Conner’s clutch shot won’t be forgotten even if it was overshadowed: The senior guard out of Alter High School has not shot the ball as often late this season as he did early in the season, but he has made the most of his few attempts.
In his last nine appearances, Conner has made 5 of 7 3s. He’s shooting 30.9% this season and 31.3% for his career.
Conner’s shot Saturday came after Saint Louis blocked a shot by Bennett at the rim. Keonte Jones grabbed the rebound and passed to Derkack behind the 3-point line. Derkack swung the ball to Conner in the corner with the Dayton bench behind him.
“Keonte got a great offensive rebound,” Conner said. “Jordan caught it. They kind of all flooded to him, and he kicked it. Obviously, knowing the clock and the score, I had to take the shot and be confident. My coaches and teammates trust me. It was an awesome feeling to hit the shot.”
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