Dayton basketball: VCU hands Flyers first Senior Night loss since 2011

What it means: Dayton (21-10, 12-6) saw a six-game winning streak end. Its 14-game winning streak in its final home game ended. It last lost its final home game in 2011, 69-51 to Saint Louis, when Chris Wright and Devin Searcy were seniors.

VCU (24-7, 15-3) swept the two-game season series from Dayton for the first time since 2021. The teams split two games the last four seasons. The Rams beat Dayton 99-73 in Richmond, Va., on Feb. 6.

VCU could tie for the Atlantic 10 Conference regular-season championship if Saint Louis (27-3, 15-2) loses at George Mason on Saturday.

Saint Louis has already clinched the top seed in the A-10 tournament. No. 2 seed VCU, No. 3 seed Saint Joseph’s and No. 4 Dayton will be the other top-four seeds at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh next week.

Stars of the game: Lazar Djokovic led VCU with 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting.

Javon Bennett scored 17 points on 5-of-11 shooting for Dayton in his final home game. Bennett was honored before the game Keonte Jones, Jordan Derkack and Jacob Conner.

Stat of the game: VCU shot 38% (8 of 21) from 3-point range. Dayton shot 18% (4 of 22).

Key moment: VCU had the lead throughout the second half but did not lead by more than six points. Dayton twice cut the deficit to two points in the last four minutes. Each time, VCU pushed its lead back to four points.

After a basket by VCU’s Terrence Hill at the 1:24 mark gave the Rams a 66-62 lead, Dayton missed its last three shots.

Looking ahead: Dayton will play in the quarterfinals of the A-10 tournament on March 13 at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.

HALFTIME RECAP

Bennett got a fortunate bounce on a jump shot from the baseline at the first-half buzzer, and Dayton faced a 37-36 halftime deficit.

Here’s a quick recap of the first half:

Key players: Bennett scored eight points on 3-of-4 shooting for Dayton

Barry Evans and Djokovic each scored eight points for VCU.

Key stats: Dayton had eight turnovers to VCU’s three.

VCU shot 38.5% (5 of 13) from 3-point range. Dayton shot 25% (2 of 8).

Big run: Dayton led 13-8. VCU scored the next 11 points to take a 19-13 lead at the 10:36 mark.

Close game: There were five ties and 10 lead changes in the first half.

Bench contribution: Dayton forward Malcolm Thomas, who did not play in the last three games, scored five points in six minutes in the first half.

Foul trouble: Amaël L’Etang scored six points on 3-of-4 shooting but was limited to eight minutes because of two fouls.