No. 23 Saint Louis aims to keep strong A-10 lead vs. Dayton

No. 23 Saint Louis looks to maintain its firm grip on first place in the Atlantic 10 Conference when it visits Dayton on Tuesday.

The Billikens (25-2, 13-1 A-10) rallied in the second half to knock off second-place VCU 88-75 on Friday. Reserve guard Kellen Thames led Saint Louis with 16 points and sixth man Ishan Sharma added 13 points, as did Robbie Avila and Amari McCottry. Quentin Jones rounded out the quintet of Billikens that scored in double figures with 11 points.

Saint Louis trailed 22-8 against VCU in the first half before outscoring the Rams 55-33 after halftime, building a lead as large as 19 points in the second half.

Jones and multiple players on the Saint Louis bench were ejected for their roles in a shoving match in the final seconds of the game, which resulted in the A-10 fining and reprimanding both teams.

It was a bounce-back win for the Billikens after their 18-game winning streak was snapped on Feb. 17 with an 81-76 loss at Rhode Island. Even with the loss, Saint Louis is No. 22 in the NCAA NET rankings, seemingly well inside the cut line for the NCAA Tournament.

But getting off to a better start against Dayton was on the Billikens' minds this week at practice.

"We really were, until the last five or six games, a fast-starting team," Saint Louis coach Josh Schertz said. "If you think about the season, we have always come out and been really good early, usually. So I don't know (what has changed). We have to figure that out."

The Billikens previously beat the Flyers 102-71 at home on Jan. 30. Schertz said the Rams and Flyers are the class of the Atlantic 10, and the Billikens relish the chance to ascend to the top of the conference.

"We have incredible respect for VCU and for Dayton," Schertz said. "They've set a standard, and we are trying to put ourselves in position to challenge those guys."

Dayton (18-9, 9-5) enters off a grueling stretch of its schedule where it managed to post three wins in a seven-day span.

The Flyers topped Duquesne 78-66 at home on Saturday behind a game-high 17 points and 10 rebounds from Amael L'Etang, who ranks third on the team in scoring at 11.9 points per game and grabs a team-high 5.8 rebounds per game.

After he sustained a knee injury in practice on Dec. 29 and missed four games, L'Etang said he finally feels like his conditioning has allowed him to be a steady contributor.

"I had a tough time after my injury," L'Etang said. "I feel like I'm getting back to 100%. I'm just working hard. The way we play with sharing the ball, everyone on the team benefits from the way we play."

Leading scorer Javon Bennett (15.9 points) tallied 14 points against the Dukes. The Flyers are 84th in the NET and will need to win the A-10 tournament to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. Dayton is 0-5 in Quad 1 games but has another chance to get one against the Billikens.

--Field Level Media