DAYTON — The University of Dayton men’s basketball team suffered its first Atlantic 10 loss and its first home loss of the season when VCU scored the last five points of the game in the final 28 seconds to edge UD 63-62. 

Toumani Camara scored 27 points and 11 rebounds alongside DaRon Holmes II who scored 13, Mustapha Amzil with eight and R.J Blakney with seven.

Dayton is now 12-6 for the year, while VCU improves to 13-5.  Both teams are now tied for first place in the Atlantic 10 at 4-1.

First Half — Dayton 33 , VCU 19

• VCU struck first with Ace Baldwin Jr.  hitting a field goal on its first possession of the game.
• Dayton responded promptly with Camara throwing down a dunk on the Flyers’ first trip down the floor.
• The back-and-forth game left the score tied at 6-6 at the first media timeout with 15:09 remaining.
• Camara extended Dayton’s lead to six as he recorded his 10th point of the game with 12:00 left in the half. 
• Dayton’s defense held VCU to a scoring doubt of 5:28.
• UD went on a 7-0 run that extended the Flyers lead to 24-12 with 6:56 remaining.
• The Flyer defense gave the Rams fits when they held them to only hitting one of their last 10 field goal attempts.
• Holmes gave the Flyers a 15-point lead off of a layup, which gave the Flyers their largest lead of the game.
• Camara led the team with 13 points at the half. 
• The Flyers dominated the boards with 22 rebounds at the half, while holding VCU to 11.

Second Half – Dayton 62, VCU 63

• The Rams made the first field goal of the half, which shortened their deficit to 12 points.
• Mustapha Amzil hit Dayton’s first bucket of the half with 18:00 remaining.
• VCU made three straight shots to cut the UD lead to seven at the first media timeout at 15:50.
• Mike Shriver of the Rams hit a three-pointer to shorten Dayton’s lead to only one, which was his 12th point of the night.
• Camara recorded his 21st point of the night by hitting a three. This extended the Flyers’ lead to seven with 07:56 left in the game.
• VCU got into foul trouble as they committed three personal fouls in less than two minutes, which the Flyers turned into six points.
• The Rams couldn’t solve the Flyers’ defense, as they hit two of their last 11 field goal attempts.
• Camara beat the shot clock with a layup with 1:09 to go in regulation. This extended their lead to four, 62-58.
• Camara created a steal on the Rams’ next possession.  Mike Sharavjamts was fouled, but did not hit the front end of a one-and-one.
• VCU turned the ball over with 30 seconds left, but Mike Shriver hit a three-pointer off of a steal with 28 seconds to go. The Flyers then had a one point lead.
• The Rams took its first and only lead off of a steal and score by Nick Kern. There were 16 seconds left.
• Dayton’s inbound pass was pushed out of bounds by the Flyers, surrendering the ball to VCU.
• VCU missed a free throw. The Flyers took a timeout with possession of the ball and 5.7 seconds left.
• Amzil’s inbound pass went to Camara as he drove to the net and ultimately could not make the shot. VCU rebounded the ball as time expired.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Toumani Camara scored a college career-high 27 points (10-16 FG, 6-8 FT) and had 11 rebounds. 
• DaRon Holmes II scored 13 points.
• Three Flyers had at least five rebounds – Camara had 11, Holmes had six, and Amzil had five. 
• The Flyers had five blocks on the night.  Camara and Holmes each had a pair.
• Mike Sharavjamts had a game-high five assists.
• R.J. Blakney had a game-high three steals.
• UD’s front court committed 14 of the teams 18 turnovers.

UP NEXT

• The Flyers’ next contest is on Tuesday, Jan. 17 against the Davidson.
• Game time is 7 p.m. ET at UD Arena. 

COURTESY DAYTON MEDIA RELATIONS