Minutes earlier, Brea’s put-back dunk had energized the crowd in a different way. Playing on two legs that had rods inserted into them in April, Brea looked as strong as ever in Dayton’s 88-81 victory against St. John’s in the semifinals of the Charleston Classic. He scored 10 points and had six rebounds.
“When you reflect on everything that he’s been through in the last year, he’s playing with great confidence,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said. “He just has a great feel about him. He understands who he is as a player. He’s really talented. It was great to see that put-back dunk, but his poise out there, it’s really impressive to see.”
Dayton (3-1) built on its 70-67 victory against LSU and will now play No. 6 Houston (5-0) at 8:30 p.m. Sunday in the championship game. Houston beat Utah 76-66 in the semifinals.
“I really like where we’re headed as a team,” Grant said. “I really like the group, I think they’re complementing each other really well and figuring it out. We’ve just got to keep moving forward.”
Here are three takeaways from the game:
1. Dayton asserted its dominance in the final 10 minutes: Dayton took the drama out of this game with a 9-0 run from the 11:13 mark to the 9:33 mark. A basket by Enoch Cheeks, a 3-pointer by Holmes, two free throws by Holmes and two free throws by Brea turned a 59-58 deficit into a 67-59 lead.
St. John’s (2-2) got no closer than six points the rest of the way.
“That goes back to the things we do in practice,” Dayton forward DaRon Holmes II said. “Our coaches do a really good job of pushing us and making sure it’s not easy in practice. Our habits in practice lead us to these moments.”
2. The bench contributed: The three players who saw the fewest minutes — Isaac Jack, Zimi Nwokeji and Petras Padegimas — combined to score 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting.
Nwokeji didn’t play in the first two games this season before making his season debut Thursday against LSU. He converted a 3-point play in the first half against St. John’s and then had another basket in just under five minutes of action.
Padegimas scored five points and made the first 3-pointer of his career.
Jack made 2 of 3 shots and has made 6 of 7 field-goal attempts in four games.
Dayton needed those contributions because Nate Santos was limited to five minutes in the first half after picking up two early fouls.
“It was great to see when he came out the other guys stepped in and stepped up and put us in a position where we still had opportunity,” Grant said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to continue to build on that.”
3. Dayton is building a resume: St. John’s ranks 78th in the Ken Pomeroy ratings. LSU is No. 66. Dayton will hope both of those teams improve their numbers over the rest of the season so the victories look strong for the NCAA tournament committee.
Dayton climbed from No. 67 to No. 59 after the two victories and will get another chance to rise Sunday.
STAR OF THE GAME
DaRon Holmes II scored 21 points on 6-of-14 shooting. He made 8 of 9 free throws. He took over the game in the final minutes as Dayton protected its lead, repeatedly backing down defenders and drawing fouls on four straight possessions. He’s averaging 16.3 points in four games and shooting 84.8% (28 of 33) from the free-throw line.
STAT OF THE GAME
Dayton made 23 of 28 free throws, while St. John’s made 14 of 18. Dayton has outscored its two opponents in Charleston, LSU and St. John’s, by 16 points at the line.
LOOKING AHEAD
The tournament takes a day off Saturday. Action resumes Sunday.
North Texas will play Towson or Wake Forest in the seventh-place game at 12:30 p.m. LSU play Towson or Wake Forest in the fifth-place game at 3 p.m. St. John’s will play Utah in the third-place game at 5:30 p.m. Dayton will play Houston in the championship game at 8:30 p.m.
SUNDAY’S GAME
Dayton vs. Houston/Utah, 8 p.m., ESPN, 1290, 95.7
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