DaRon Holmes II scores 24 and No. 16 Dayton pulls away late to beat Duquesne 75-59

DAYTON, Ohio -- — DaRon Holmes II had 24 points and 11 rebounds as No. 16 Dayton bounced back from an ugly loss and ran away from Duquesne 75-59 on Tuesday night.

Down by four with 6:17 left in the game, the Flyers went on a furious 22-2 run that included 10 free throws and played terrific defense to bury the Dukes.

Dayton struggled with rhythm early in the game and looked as if some of the issues that led to Friday's lackluster 49-47 loss to VCU might be lingering.

“It was back and forth," Dayton coach Anthony Grant said. “You know for most of the (second) half we never really got separation. The last eight minutes or so of the game, it came down to really our guys' grit and toughness and determination. They showed great poise.”

Nate Santos had 15 points and eight rebounds for Dayton (20-4, 10-2 Atlantic 10).

Jimmy Clark III had 14 points and Jake DiMichele added 12 for Duquesne (14-10, 4-7), which entered the game having won five of the last six.

Holmes, averaging 19.4 points, came back from a 12-point performance at VCU in which he missed a last-second shot that could have tied the game. Tuesday was his seventh double-double of the season.

“They make plays. They've got the best player in the league — he made plays,” Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot. “We didn't do a very good job of getting to the free-throw line. They did."

Dayton started slow again, hitting just 1 of 8 shots in the first 15 minutes of the game. Duquesne worked up an 11-point lead with just under 10 minutes left, but a 9-2 run got the Flyers back in the game.

Dayton got its first lead of the game with 2:54 left in the first half and led 36-33 at the intermission.

“That was on us,” Holmes said. “We just have to a better job executing and figuring out what's working. So we figured it out in the second half. They played pretty good defense, but we could do better coming out of the gate.”

BIG PICTURE

Duquesne: The Dukes gave the Flyers a better game than the score indicated. They stayed in it for the most part until Dayton went on its run down the stretch.

“I felt like maybe (we) got a little tired,” Dambrot said. “It wasn't anything complicated.”

Dayton: A poor performance in the loss to VCU didn't hurt the Flyers because of major turmoil in the AP Top 25 poll. In fact, they moved up from No. 18 to No. 16. Dayton is seeking its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2017.

UP NEXT

Duquesne: Hosts Saint Joseph's on Saturday.

Dayton: Hosts Fordham on Saturday.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball