OLEAN, NY — The Dayton Flyers suffered its third straight road loss Saturday night as they fell, 68-59, to the St. Bonaventure Bonnies in Olean, New York. This was UD’s first loss to the Bonnies at the Reilly Center since 2012.
The Flyers fall to 15-9 overall, 7-4 in the Atlantic 10.
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DaRon Holmes led Dayton with 21 points and Toumani Camara had a double-double: 12 points and 17 rebounds. Koby Brea scored nine off the bench. UD played this game without R.J. Blakney. Malachi Smith left the game in the second half with ankle injury.
Chad Venning scored 17 points to lead five players in double figures for St. Bonaventure. Kyrell Luc and Moses Flowers each scored 13 while Daryl Banks III had 12 points and five assists. Yann Farell contributed 11 points. He and Flowers each made three treys.
The Bonnies shot 23-52 from the floor for 44% while Dayton made 22-56 shots, 39% from the field. St. Bonaventure went 9-24 from three-point range while UD shot 4-20 from beyond the arc.
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Dayton led, 20-13, after a Kobe Elvis basket with 10:53 left in the first half. The Bonnies outscored UD, 9-1, capped by a Flowers three to go up, 22-21.
Holmes’ dunk reclaimed the lead, 23-22, but Venning’s layup put St. Bonaventure back on top, 24-23. They outscored the Flyers, 11-3, the rest of the half to be up, 33-26, at halftime.
Dayton cut the deficit to 35-34 to start the second half but Farrell buried back-to-back three-pointers to increase the Bonnies lead to 41-34. Luc made a pair of jumpers and Barry Evans’ basket off a steal extended the lead to 47-37, forcing UD to call a timeout.
Brea buried a trey to get the Flyers within seven, 47-40, but never got closer as St. Bonaventure built the lead to as much as 16 points, 67-51.
The Flyers will look to bounce back Tuesday night when they travel to Richmond, Virginia to play VCU. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.
The game will be broadcast on WHIO Radio. It will also be carried here on WHIO.com.