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DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — DaRon Holmes II got his eighth double-double of the season with 29 points and 10 rebounds to lead No. 16 Dayton past Fordham 78-70 on Saturday.
Dayton (21-4, 11-2 Atlantic 10), eyeing an NCAA Tournament berth for the first time in seven years, picked up its second win of the week after a setback at VCU on Feb. 9.
“We’re going to get everybody’s best shot,” Holmes said. “Just with wearing ‘Dayton’ across our chest, everybody is going to be coming at us.”
The Rams kept it close until late.
Antrell Charlton’s fast-break layup got Fordham back within three points with 2:07 left, but the Rams missed their next four shots, and a basket and three free throws by Holmes sealed the win for Dayton.
The Flyers were 13 for 17 from the foul line in the second half. Holmes made 6 of 7.
“I thought we were in a good rhythm, and then in the second half, their changing defense kind of broke the rhythm and it was a back-and-forth game,” Flyers coach Anthony Grant said.
“But I thought in the last five minutes, our guys kind of locked in, in terms of the things we needed to do offensively and defensively. On a (day) when we weren’t as stellar as we would have liked offensively in the second half, we were able to get to the free-throw line. We were able to knock down free throws.”
Japhet Medor and Kyle Rose each scored 17 for Fordham (10-15, 4-8), losers of four of the last five.
Dayton shot 57% for the game, including 7 for 20 from 3-point range.
After eight lead changes in the first half, the Flyers led by 10 with five minutes left on a Holmes 3-pointer.
Fordham closed the gap early in the second half and tied the game at 66 with 6:22 remaining.
“We’re going to face some kind of adversity every game,” Holmes said. “In this, adversity came in the second half, and we had to find ways to pull put out the win.”
Javon Bennett, who had injured an ankle in Tuesday night’s game, had 14 points and Enoch Cheeks had 12 on 4-for-5 shooting from the floor for the Flyers.
BIG PICTURE
Fordham: Like many of Dayton’s A-10 opponents, Fordham has the talent to compete with Dayton but was outlasted down the stretch, thanks in large part to the Dayton star Holmes.
Dayton: The Flyers, winners of four of their past five, are the only Atlantic 10 team with 20 wins and could pile up some more with five regular-season games remaining. The finale will be against VCU, which handed them the Flyers their last loss on Feb. 9. Three of the remaining games are on the road.
UP NEXT
Fordham: At Davidson on Tuesday.
Dayton: At George Mason on Wednesday.
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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
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