Dayton dominates OT to pick up key road win at Marquette

What it means: Dayton (4-1) improved to 2-9 in true road games in the last nine seasons. Its only other victory in coach Anthony Grant’s tenure came at Southern Methodist in the 2023-24 season.

Dayton beat Marquette (3-3) for the second straight season. The Flyers have won six of the last seven games in the series.

Stars of the game: Javon Bennett scored 19 points on 6-of-13 shooting. De’Shayne Montgomery had 18 points on 8-of-11 shooting.

Stat of the game: Dayton won despite 25 turnovers. That was one more than Cincinnati had in a 74-62 victory against Dayton eight days earlier.

Marquette committed 20 turnovers.

Key plays: Dayton never trailed after halftime but blew a double-digit lead in the second half. Marquette tied the game with 40 seconds to play.

Jones turned the ball over with 20 seconds remaining. Marquette played for the last shot but didn’t get a shot off in time.

Overtime summary: Jones opened the scoring in the extra period with a 3 from the corner. Conner gave Dayton a six-point lead with 1:44 to play, but Marquette answered with a 3.

Dayton clinched the game with three free throws by Bennett in the final 36 seconds.

Looking ahead: Dayton plays North Carolina Central at 2 p.m. Saturday.

HALFTIME RECAP

Dayton led Marquette by as many as 10 points in the first half, saw that lead evaporate but still took a 39-34 lead into halftime.

Here’s a quick recap of the first half:

Key players: De’Shayne Montgomery scored 14 points on 6-of-6 shooting for Dayton.

Chase Ross led Marquette with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

Key stat: The teams combined for 28 turnovers. Dayton had 16, with Jordan Derkack committing four of them. Marquette had 12.

Big run: Dayton led 23-13 with 8 minutes, 25 seconds to play. Over the next 2½ minutes, Marquette outscored Dayton 17-1 to take a 30-24 lead.

Turning point: Dayton outscored Marquette 15-4 in the last five minutes of the half. Bennett, who had 11 points in the half, scored four points in the final minute on two jump shots.

Bench contributions: Malcolm Thomas, who did not play in Dayton’s 91-82 victory against Bethune-Cookman on Saturday, scored six points in the first half.

Jaiun Thomas scored five points off the bench.