Javon Bennett scored 19 and De’Shayne Montgomery added 18 to lead Dayton to a 77-71 overtime road victory over Marquette on Wednesday night in Milwaukee.
The Flyers (4-1) shot 53.1% from the floor (26 of 49) and 41.2% (7 of 17) from behind the arc. Jordan Derkack and Malcolm Thomas each added eight points.
Nigel James Jr. led Marquette (3-3) with 18 points while Chase Ross added 15 and Zaide Lowery scored 10.
The Golden Eagles, who hadn’t lost a nonconference home game since 2022 prior to Saturday’s setback against Maryland, dropped their second in a row.
Marquette attempted 16 more shots than Dayton, but converted one less, hitting 25 of 65 for 38.5%.
After Dayton grabbed the early edge, Ross ignited a Marquette surge, going on a personal 5-0 run that turned into a 17-1 run where they made 7-of-9 shots from the floor. The hosts led 30-24 with six minutes remaining in the half.
Dayton responded with their own 15-4 run to close out the half and go into halftime up 39-34. Montgomery, who converted all six field goal attempts in the first half, led all scorers with 14 at the break while Ross had 12 for Marquette.
The Flyers extended the lead to 59-47 with 8:27 remaining, but back-to-back treys by Marquette’s Royce Parham and Ben Gold sliced the deficit to 66-64 with 2:42 to play. James Jr. then converted two free throws to knot the score at 66-all with 1:39 remaining in regulation.
Lowery hammered home a dunk to even the score again at 68 with 36.5 seconds to play.
James Jr. forced a huge turnover as he stole the ball with 20 seconds left. That setup a final possession for Marquette, but they failed to get a shot attempt off before the buzzer, which sent the game to overtime.
In overtime, Dayton got 3-pointers from Keonte Jones and Jacob Conner to go up by six. James Jr. knocked down a trey with 90 seconds left, but Marquette misfired on their final four attempts of the night and Dayton finished it out from the free-throw line.
–Field Level Media
