PITTSBURGH -- Nyk Lewis finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds and No. 2 seed VCU beat fourth-seeded Dayton 70-62 on Sunday to win a second straight Atlantic 10 Conference tournament and clinch a spot in the NCAA tournament.
VCU (27-7) will make its 21st March Madness appearance. The Rams made it all the way to the Final Four before losing in 2011.
Lewis hit 4 of 5 shots from beyond the 3-point line but just 1-of-5 inside it for VCU. Reserves Terrence Hill Jr. and Michael Belle scored 14 and 12, respectively.
Javon Bennett led Dayton (23-11) with 14 points and Amaël L'Etang scored 12.
Hill and Barry Evans connected from beyond the arc to give VCU a 16-10 lead, and the Rams never trailed again in building a 40-25 advantage at halftime.
Dayton whittled the deficit to 10 early in the second half, but Belle buried a 3-pointer and Hill hit a pull-up jumper for a 48-33 lead with 15 minutes remaining.
The Flyers trailed by 10 when they missed the front end of a 1-and-1 twice. Jordan Derkack made 1 of 4 foul shots before L'etang sank a pair to cut it to 60-53 with 2:02 remaining, but the Flyers got no closer.
Dayton, swept by VCU during the regular season, was aiming for a 20th NCAA tournament appearance.