Amael L’Etang scored a career-high 26 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, sparking Dayton to a 77-62 home upset win over No. 23 Saint Louis on Tuesday.
Javon Bennett added 17 points and Jordan Derkack put up 14 points for Dayton (19-9, 10-5 Atlantic 10), which won its fourth straight game.
Kellen Thames led Saint Louis (25-3, 13-2) with a career-high 24 points. Dion Brown contributed 15 points and Robbie Avila chipped in 10 points for the Billikens, who have lost two of three games after an 18-game winning streak.
L’Etang’s first 3-pointer capped a 10-0 run that gave Dayton a 13-4 lead. The Frenchman led all players in the first half with 16 points.
While Thames stopped the run with a layup, the Flyers reeled off the next seven points, highlighted by a De’Shayne Montgomery alley-oop pass that Keonte Jones slammed home as Dayton led 20-6.
With three straight treys, the last by Montgomery, the Flyers boosted their lead to 33-11.
Brown hit the Billikens’ first trey of the game at the 3:25 mark, sparking a 13-4 scoring spree as the Billikens pulled within 44-28 at halftime.
The Flyers shot a blistering 63.6% (7 of 11) on 3-point attempts in the first half, which opened things up inside. Dayton connected on 55.6% (15 of 27) of its first-half field-goal attempts overall.
Conversely, Saint Louis shot 38.5% (10 of 26) from the field and just 1 of 12 from three-point range in the opening half. The Billikens also lost the turnover battle 6-2 in the first 20 minutes.
In the second half, an Avila 3-pointer pulled the Billikens within 53-40 before Dayton launched into a 6-0 run that featured four points from Derkack. Saint Louis trailed 67-56 after a spinning layup from Thames with 3:49 to play.
A behind-the-back pass from L’Etang led to a Derkack layup as Dayton pulled away with a 73-58 advantage.
–Field Level Media
