Dayton falls to George Washington for first time in six years

What it means: Dayton (13-7, 5-2) saw a five-game winning streak in the series end. Its last loss to GW came at the Smith Center in the final game of the regular season in 2017.

Dayton now trails Virginia Commonwealth (15-5, 6-1) by a game with 11 games remaining. Saint Louis (13-6, 5-1) trails VCU by a half game and plays La Salle on Saturday.

Star of the game: James Bishop, the A-10′s leading scorer with 21.7 points per game, scored 27 points. He made 10 of 19 field goals and 7 of 10 free throws.

Stat of the game: Dayton made 8 of 27 3-pointers (29.6%). The Flyers had shot above 40% in seven of the previous nine games.

Turning point: Dayton had two 3-point attempts late in the second half to cut the deficit to five points but missed them both. GW sealed the victory by making 12 of 12 free throws in the final minute.

George Washington had the lead for the last 37-plus minutes after Dayton tied the game at 2-2 in the opening minutes.

Injury update: Dayton played its first game this season without a player sidelined by injury as Kobe Elvis returned to the rotation. He scored eight points in 14 minutes.

Malachi Smith had 12 points in 21 minutes in his second game back from an ankle injury.

Looking ahead: Dayton plays at Rhode Island at 7 p.m. Wednesday. It will be former UD coach Archie Miller’s first game against the Flyers.

FIRST-HALF RECAP

Maximus Edwards made a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give George Washington a 36-22 halftime lead.

It’s the biggest halftime deficit Dayton has faced since it trailed Virginia Tech 42-21 in a 77-49 loss on Dec. 7.

Here’s a quick recap of the half:

Key player: Edwards made 5 of 8 field goals, including 3 of 4 3-pointers, to lead all players with 13 points.

Key stat: George Washington held Dayton to 26.7% shooting. The Flyers, who shoot 55.3% from 2-point range, made 4 of 17 shots (23.5%) inside the arc.

DaRon Holmes II and Toumani Camara combined to make 1 of 12 2-point field goals. Camara scored his six points on 3-pointers.

Big run: George Washington outscored Dayton 10-0 to turn a 14-12 lead into a 24-12 advantage at the 7:25 mark.

Rotation news: Elvis returned to action for the first time since injuring his knee on Nov. 25. He played three minutes in the first half and missed his only shot attempt.