Dayton 66-65 UNLV (December 17, 2024) Game Recap

DAYTON, Ohio – Malachi Smith scored five of his 11 points in the final 37 seconds, including a game-tying three-point play, and No. 22 Dayton beat UNLV 66-65 on Tuesday night.

Nate Santos had 14 points for the Flyers (10-2), who moved into the AP Top 25 poll this week for the first time this season. They extended their home winning streak to 25 games – the fifth-longest in Division I.

Houston has the longest streak in the country at 27 games.

Zed Key scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half and freshman Amael L’Etang finished with 10 for Dayton.

Dedan Thomas Jr. led UNLV (5-5) with 16 points. Jaden Henley added 15 and Julian Rishwain had 12 points on four 3-pointers.

Takeaways

Rishwain gave UNLV a spark in the second half. He went scoreless until he made his first field goal in five attempts with 7:53 left. His third straight three-pointer in four minutes gave the Rebels their first lead of the second half at 55-53.

Key moment

Santos made a 3-pointer from the corner with 1:15 left to put Dayton up 62-61, and UNLV failed to hit the rim at the other end late in the shot clock, leading to a layup by Smith led.

Rishwain made his fourth 3-pointer with 23 seconds left for a 65-63 lead, but Smith converted a three-point play to give Dayton a one-point lead with eight seconds left. Thomas’ baseline jumper at the buzzer was short.

Key statistics

A game with seven ties and eight lead changes ended with each team making 13 free throws and grabbing 30 rebounds. Dayton was 24 of 51 from the field while UNLV made 22 of 53.

Next

UNLV returns home to play UC Riverside on Saturday.

Dayton plays No. 19 Cincinnati on Friday in the Simple Truth Hoops Classic at Heritage Bank Center.

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