Amael L'Etang's career night carries Dayton past No. 23 Saint Louis

Amael L'Etang scored a career-high 26 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, sparking Dayton to a 77-62 home upset win over No. 23 Saint Louis on Tuesday.

Javon Bennett added 17 points and Jordan Derkack put up 14 points for Dayton (19-9, 10-5 Atlantic 10), which won its fourth straight game.

Kellen Thames led Saint Louis (25-3, 13-2) with a career-high 24 points. Dion Brown contributed 15 points and Robbie Avila chipped in 10 points for the Billikens, who have lost two of three games after an 18-game winning streak.

L'Etang's first 3-pointer capped a 10-0 run that gave Dayton a 13-4 lead. The Frenchman led all players in the first half with 16 points.

While Thames stopped the run with a layup, the Flyers reeled off the next seven points, highlighted by a De'Shayne Montgomery alley-oop pass that Keonte Jones slammed home as Dayton led 20-6.

With three straight treys, the last by Montgomery, the Flyers boosted their lead to 33-11.

Brown hit the Billikens' first trey of the game at the 3:25 mark, sparking a 13-4 scoring spree as the Billikens pulled within 44-28 at halftime.

The Flyers shot a blistering 63.6% (7 of 11) on 3-point attempts in the first half, which opened things up inside. Dayton connected on 55.6% (15 of 27) of its first-half field-goal attempts overall.

Conversely, Saint Louis shot 38.5% (10 of 26) from the field and just 1 of 12 from three-point range in the opening half. The Billikens also lost the turnover battle 6-2 in the first 20 minutes.

In the second half, an Avila 3-pointer pulled the Billikens within 53-40 before Dayton launched into a 6-0 run that featured four points from Derkack. Saint Louis trailed 67-56 after a spinning layup from Thames with 3:49 to play.

A behind-the-back pass from L'Etang led to a Derkack layup as Dayton pulled away with a 73-58 advantage.

--Field Level Media