DAYTON, Ohio - With the Atlantic 10 regular season conference championship on the line, the University of Dayton men's basketball team outlasted the Virginia Commonwealth Rams, in overtime, by a final score of 68-67 in front of a sellout crowd at UD Arena. I

With the win, Dayton earned a share of the conference title and the No. 1 seed in next week's A-10 Championship that will be played in Brooklyn's Barclay Center Mar. 9-13.  The Flyers tied St. Bonaventure and VCU for first place and got the top seed via head-to-head tiebreaker.

It was fitting for the Flyers to win the game with sheer toughness, something the two seniors who were being honored on the night, Bobby Wehrli and Dyshawn Pierre, were best known for.

Game Breakdown:

1H: While the seniors were the ones being honored before the game, once the ball was tipped, it quickly became the Scoochie Smith show. While the Rams started off red hot from three, nailing their first three attempts from behind the arc and taking a 9-0 lead within the first two minutes of game action. That's when Smith showed up. Trailing by seven, Smith scored Dayton's next four points and brought the Flyers to within three, 11-8. With 7:40 left in the half and in the midst of a 10-0 run, Smith nailed a trey from the top of the key to even the score at 19.

Steve McElvene then met Mo Alie-Cox of VCU at the rim and blocked his dunk attempt, leading to a VCU shot clock violation. On the ensuing possession, Charles Cooke got in on the action, nailing a three to put Dayton out ahead for its first lead of the game, 22-19 with 6:53 left in the half. Dayton had held VCU scoreless for over 8 minutes before the Rams broke loose and went on a 9-0 run of their own. VCU went into the break leading 28-26. Smith led the Flyers with nine points and 5 rebounds.

2H: The teams traded baskets for the first 10 minutes of the half with neither team able to gain any separation from the other. The Flyers took the lead 43-42 with 5:19 left in the half after a Charles Cooke layup but the Rams responded with a 5-0 run of their own to lead 47-43. Two possessions later, Smith nailed a deep three-pointer, as the shot clock was expiring, to give Dayton a 48-47 lead.

A couple possessions later with VCU up 52-49, Senior Dyshawn Pierre brought the crowd to its feet with a put back slam. The Rams again however, extended their lead back out to 55-51 with 1:13 left. UD called timeout with the ball trailing 55-53 with 20.0 seconds remaining. Out of the timeout, Smith came off of a high ball screen from McElvene and attacked the basket, finishing a left handed layup to tie the game at 55 with 11.2 seconds left.

VCU's Melvin Johnson came down the court and got to the left elbow but his shot rimmed out. A put-back attempt by Doug Brooks swirled around the rim but came out just as time was expiring. The game headed to OT tied at 55.

OT: The extra period began with both teams trading baskets. Justin Tillman started off the extra period with a layup to give VCU a 57-55 lead but Scoochie Smith wouldn't let that last. Smith came right down court and, with ice flowing through his veins, nailed another triple to take back the lead. Korey Billbury got in on the action, responding on the very next possession with a three of his own to give the Rams the two-point advantage again, leading 60-58.  With VCU eventually leading by 4 with 1:40 to play, Smith hit two free throws to bring Flyers within 2. Dayton then got a stop on defense and regained possession of the ball with 52.8 seconds left. Cooke was fouled and calmly stepped to the line and knocked down both free throws to tie the game.

VCU however, was fouled on the very next possession but hit just one free throw to regain lead 67-66. Clutch Kyle Davis received an outlet pass from Smith and attacked the basket, finishing a tough layup over a VCU defender to put the Flyers out in front 68-67. VCU had one last attempt to take the game but Melvin Johnson missed a three-pointer and Dayton prevailed, earning themselves a share of the A-10 Regular Season title.

Inside the Numbers:
• Scoochie Smith led all scorers with a career-high 29 points.  He shot 8-17 (47%) from the field while also pulling down eight rebounds and dishing out five assists.
• Charles Cooke added 13 points, and Kendall Pollard had 12. 
• Kyle Davis also had five assists for the Flyers.
• Melvin Johnson and Korey Billbury led four Rams in double figures with 16 points each.
• VCU's Justin Tillman led all players with 21 total rebounds during the contest.
• Of Dayton's 21 made field goals, 15 of them were assisted.
• The "free ones" were tough to capitalize on for both teams. Dayton shot 63.6 percent from the free-throw line (21-33) compared to VCU's 51.9 percent (14-27)
• The Flyers played all of overtime without their senior leader Dyshawn Pierre. Pierre fouled out with 1:16 left to play in regulation. Junior Kendall Pollard also fouled out, becoming disqualified from the contest with 3:22 left to play in OT.
• There were 13 lead changes during the contest and the score was tied nine separate times. Dayton only led for 8:55 of game time. Their largest lead was only five points compared to the Rams largest lead, which came early in the game, at nine points.
• VCU had 19 offensive rebounds leading to 14 second chance points.
• This is Dayton's first full conference regular season title.  The Flyers won three A-10 West Division championships between 1998 and 2004.

Up Next:
The Flyers will head to Brooklyn to compete in the A-10 postseason tournament. Dayton will play on Friday, March 11 in the quarterfinals at 12 noon.  UD will square against the winner of Thursday's Second Round matchup between Fordham and Richmond.