Dayton escapes with overtime victory against last-place Loyola

Ramblers send game to OT with last-second 3-pointer and 6-0 run in final minute

The Dayton Flyers scored seven points at the free-throw line in the last 90 seconds of overtime and escaped with an 85-81 victory against Loyola, the last-place team in the Atlantic 10 Conference, on Tuesday at UD Arena.

The game, the first meeting between the programs in 30 years, started at 9:10 p.m. and ended around 11:35.

Here’s a quick recap of the game:

What it means: Dayton (15-8, 7-3) won its second straight game at home after back-to-back losses on the road to George Washington and Rhode Island. The Flyers stayed in third place with the victory. They trail first-place Virginia Commonwealth by one game with eight games to play and are a half game behind Saint Louis.

Loyola (7-14, 1-8) remains in last place in the A-10 in its first season in the conference.

Star of the game: Toumani Camara scored a career-high 31 points. He made 10 of 14 field goals and 9 of 11 free throws.

Stat of the game: Loyola stayed in the game by making 13 of 25 3-pointers. It made two in the final minute of the second half to rally from a six-point deficit. Philip Alston tied the game on a 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds to play.

Turning point: Malachi Smith, who scored a season-high 21 points, gave Dayton the lead for good on a jump shot with 2:59 to play in overtime. DaRon Holmes II then gave Dayton a 78-74 lead on a dunk, his first and only field goal of the game, on the next possession.

Around the A-10: Saint Louis (15-7, 7-2) fell into second place after losing 75-65 at Fordham on Tuesday. VCU (17-6, 8-2) won 61-59 at Davidson and moved a half game ahead of Saint Louis.

Looking ahead: Dayton plays at St. Bonaventure (11-11, 5-4) at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Reilly Center. The Bonnies won 61-58 at VCU on Saturday and play at Richmond on Wednesday.

The Flyers have won seven straight games in the series and six straight games at St. Bonaventure since an 81-73 loss in 2012.

HALFTIME RECAP

Dayton outscored Loyola 9-2 in the last 3:43 of the first half to build a 40-34 halftime lead.

Here’s a quick recap of the first half:

Key player: Camara scored 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting.

Key stat: The teams combined to make 11 of 25 3-pointers. Dayton made 6 of 15. Loyola made 5 of 10.

Philip Alston and Bryce Golden, who each scored 10 points for Loyola, each made two 3-pointers. Camara and Smith each made two for Dayton.

Big run: Dayton trailed 32-31 with 3:51 to play when it began a 9-0 run on a 3-pointer by Smith at the 3:43 mark. Loyola didn’t score again until its final possession when Braden Norris made a layup with six seconds to play.

Hot start: The teams combined to make 11 of their first 13 field-goal attempts and scored 35 points in the first six minutes. They then combined to score seven points in the second six-minute stretch.

Late start: The game, the first between Dayton and Loyola since 1993, started at 9:10 p.m.

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