Short-handed Dayton Flyers win at VCU; Double-doubles from Camara and Holmes

RICHMOND, VA — The Dayton Flyers played short-handed Tuesday night and beat the VCU Rams, 62-58, at the Siegel Center in Richmond, Virginia.

UD played without point guard Malachi Smith due to an ankle injury. R.J. Blakney played in the first half but did not return in the second half after an injury. Mike Sharavjamts fouled out with 10:32 remaining.

Two Dayton players had a double-double. Toumani Camara had 26 points and 15 rebounds while Daron Holmes II added 11 points and 13 boards.

Camara sealed the game with a free throw with seven seconds remaining. Jayden Nunn missed a trey and Mustapha Amzil grabbed the miss to end the game.

It’s the third time in four regular season games the Flyers have beaten VCU in Richmond. They won in 2020, 2022 and now 2023. They lost twice in 2021, once in the regular season and again in the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

The Flyers improve to 16-9 overall, 8-4 in the Atlantic 10.

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The Rams jumped out to a 17-6 lead with 13:05 left in the first half after a three-pointer by Zeb Jackson. Koby Brea scored six straight points and baskets by Zimi Nwokeji and Camara cut the deficit to 17-16 with 9:31 remaining until halftime.

VCU led, 25-20, but Dayton got a three-point play by Holmes and three-pointer from Camara to go up, 26-25. UD led, 36-32, at halftime.

Camara opened a second half with a trey to increase the lead to 39-32. The Rams went on a 9-2 run to tie the game at 41-41 but Azmil’s three put the Flyers back up, 44-41.

Jamir Watkins’ two free throws put the Rams ahead, 47-46, with 10:32 to go. Camara scored seven straight points and Holmes’ basket was part of a 9-0 run as Dayton led, 55-47, with 6:25 to play.

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UD led, 60-53, with just over a minute to play. Brandon Johns, Jr. stole it from Kobe Elvis and Nick Kern’s layup cut it 60-55. Amzil was called for a travel and VCU took over with 52 seconds to go. Ace Baldwin missed a three and Jalen Deloach was fouled on the loose ball by Holmes. Deloach missed the front end of a one and one, Amzil got fouled with 41 seconds remaining.

He missed the front end of a one and one and Holmes committed his fifth foul with 35 seconds. Jayden Nunn’s two free throws cut it to 60-57. Baldwin stole it from Elvis and Nunn was fouled with 30 seconds left. Nunn made one of two shots and Elvis was fouled with 18 seconds to go.

Elvis made one of two free throws and the Flyers led, 61-58. Baldwin missed a layup and Camara got fouled and made one of two foul shots with seven seconds left. Nunn missed a three-pointer and Amzil grabbed the miss to end the game.

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UD made 22 of 50 shots, making 44% of their shots. They went 7-21 from three-point range and 11-18 from the free throw line. The Flyers outrebounded the Rams, 41-33.

VCU shot 39% from the floor, going 22-56 from the field. They made 4-19 from three-point range and went 10-20 from the foul line. Ace Baldwin led the Rams with 14 points while Jalen Deloach added 11 and Jayden Nunn had 10 points. VCU scored 20 points off 17 Flyer turnovers.

Dayton is back in action Friday night when they host Saint Louis at the UD Arena. Tip-off is at 8 p.m.

The game will be broadcast on WHIO Radio. You can also listen to the game here at WHIO.com.

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