Dayton falls flat in final minutes in A-10 quarterfinal loss to Duquesne

Here’s a quick recap of the game:

What it means: Dayton (24-7) still has never won the A-10 tournament outside UD Arena. It hasn’t won the championship since 2003. It lost its first game for the third time in the last six tournaments.

Upset Thursday: The top four seeds all lost Thursday. The semifinals on Saturday will match No. 9 seed Saint Joseph’s vs. No. 5 seed VCU and No. 7 St. Bonaventure vs. No. 6 Duquesne.

Star of the game: DaRon Holmes II led all scorers with 24 points on 5-of-13 shooting. He scored most of his points at the free-throw line, making 13 of 16.

Stat of the game: Duquesne outscored Dayton 30-18 in the paint.

Turning point: Dayton led 52-48 at the 7:15 mark and was outscored 10-0 over the next three-plus minutes. Dayton missed the front end of two 1-and-1s during that span, missed two 3-pointers and had a turnover.

Duquense outscored Dayton 17-5 in the last seven minutes.

Big shots: Jake DiMichele, Dae Dae Grant and Jimmy Clark III all made 3-pointers in the final 5:06. Dayton missed its last five 3-pointers.

Looking ahead: The Flyers will now fly home and wait for Selection Sunday. They’ll find out where they’re going when the Selection Show airs at 6 p.m. Sunday. All the NCAA tournament experts consider them a lock for the tournament no matter what happened in Brooklyn. Their loss assures the A-10 will two NCAA tournament berths.

HALFTIME RECAP

Dayton outscored St. Bonaventure 5-0 in the last 65 seconds of the first half but faced a 30-28 halftime deficit

Here’s a quick recap of the half:

Key players: Nate Santos led No. 3 seed Dayton with seven points. Jimmy Clark III had seven for No. 7 Duquesne.

Key stat: Duquesne made 11 of 15 2-point field goals, while Dayton made 4 of 13.

Turnover numbers: Duquesne had 11 turnovers to Dayton’s four. Dayton scored 11 points off the Duquesne turnovers.

Slow start: Dayton made 1 of its first 10 shot attempts and trailed 14-4 with 11 minutes, 47 seconds to play.

Turning point: Nate Santos made a 3-pointer at the 11:33 mark to stop a 12-2 Duquesne run.

Big shot: Javon Bennett made a 3-pointer with 29 seconds to play to cut Duquesne’s lead to two. Bennett returned to the starting lineup after missing two games with a thumb injury.

Limited star: DaRon Holmes II missed all three of his field-goal attempts and scored his only points at the free-throw line, where he made 3 of 6.