No. 18 Dayton dumps Saint Joseph's, extends hot streak

Field Level Media|published: Tue 6th February, 22:43 2024

Nov 19, 2023; Charleston, SC, USA; Dayton Flyers head coach Anthony Grant talks to his players in the first half against the Houston Cougars at TD Arena. credits: David Yeazell-USA TODAY Sports

Nate Santos and Kobe Elvis each scored 21 points, helping No. 18 Dayton register a 94-79 victory over Saint Joseph's on Tuesday in Philadelphia.

Javon Bennett added 18 points on 5-for-6 shooting from the field for the Flyers, who won for the 16th time in the past 17 games. DaRon Holmes II added 13 for Dayton (19-3, 9-1 Atlantic 10), Enoch Cheeks had 12 points and Elvis dished out 10 assists.

Cameron Brown led Saint Joseph's (15-8, 5-5) with 19 points, and Lynn Green III followed with 18 points. Xzayvier Brown chipped in 15 points off the bench for the Hawks, who dropped their fourth straight game against the Flyers.

Rasheer Fleming collected 14 points for Saint Joseph's, which had won five of its previous six games overall.

After facing a four-point halftime deficit, Dayton traded 3-pointers with Saint Joseph's before going on 15-0 scoring run, taking a 52-41 lead on Koby Brea's triple with 14:10 left.

After Greer's midrange jump shot cut the Hawks' deficit to 10 points, Santos went on a personal 7-0 run, pushing the Dayton advantage to 61-44 at the 10:55 mark.

A pair of Holmes free throws with 7:31 remaining gave the Flyers a 19-point lead, their largest to that point.

Greer responded with a layup before Elvis lobbed an alley-oop to Holmes, giving Dayton a 69-50 lead with 6:34 to go.

Back-to-back buckets from Xzayvier Brown and Greer cut Dayton's lead to 13 points, but the gap was pushed back to 16 when Santos completed a three-point play with 4:19 left.

Saint Joseph's briefly got within 11 points on treys from Fleming and Cameron Brown, the latter with 2:45 left.

Dayton subsequently pulled away.

In the first half, Saint Joseph's got out to a 15-5 lead. Minutes later, Cameron Brown's jumper matched the Hawks' largest lead of the game, as they the hosts went up 23-12 with 10:33 left before the break.

From there, Dayton responded with a 12-0 run, taking its first lead of the game on Elvis' three-point play.

The Hawks took the advantage back with a 7-0 run and led 38-34 at intermission.

Dayton prevailed for the third time in its past four visits to Saint Joseph's.

—Field Level Media