RICHMOND, Va. – Double-doubles from Toumani Camara and DaRon Holmes II led the University of Dayton men's basketball team to a gritty62-58 win at VCU on Tuesday.  Camara had game highs of 26 points and 15 rebounds, while Holmes added 11 and 13.

Dayton is now 16-9 overall, and 8-4 in the Atlantic 10 Conference, one game back of first-place VCU, who is now 18-7 and 9-3.

First Half – Dayton 36, VCU 32

• Dayton opened the scoring with a Toumani Camara free throw, but VCU scored the next seven points to take a 7-1 lead three minutes and 15 seconds into the game.
• The Rams pushed their advantage to 11 (17-6) at the 13:05 mark.
• It was their largest lead of the night.
• The Flyers got back in it with 10 straight points – six by Koby Brea and two each by Zimi Nwokeji and Camara.
• UD continued to chase VCU until a three by Camara with 4:58 left in the half put Dayton up by one (26-25).
• Mustapha Amzil hit another trey 48 second later to increase the lead to for, and after a VCU two-pointer, a Brea triple made the score 32-27 with 3:21 to go.
• VCU's Ace Baldwin hit a bucket, and then Camara hit back-to-back two-pointers to put the Flyers up seven (36-29).
• A Ram three-pointer with 18 ticks left made it a four-point game going into halftime.

Second Half – Dayton 62, VCU 58

• Camara opened the scoring again, this time on a three from the corner as the shot clock was running out, but VCU scored seven points in a row to tie the game 39-39 with 16:50 left.
• An Amzil three one minute later reclaimed the lead for UD, but VCU tied it again, 42-42, with13:03 remaining.
• The Rams last led 47-46 at the 10:32 mark, but the Flyers scored the next nine points, the first seven by Camara.
• Dayton's last field goal gave it a nine-point lead (60-51) with 3:37 to go, but VCU took advantage of the short-handed Flyers' fatigue that led to five turnovers and two missed one-and-ones, and make it a two-point game, 60-58 with 30 seconds to go.
• Koby Elvis hit one of two free throws with 18 seconds to go, Camara did the same 10 seconds later and the Dayton defense got two more stops to preserve the four-point win.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Toumani Camara's 26 points came on 9-of-12 shooting, including two-of three from beyond the arc.
• UD's starting front line – Camara (15 rebounds), DaRon Holmes II (13) and Mustapha Amzil (8) combined to out-rebound VCU by themselves.  The Flyers controlled the boards 41-33.
• Kobe Elvis and Koby Brea each led Dayton with four assists each.
• With Malachi Smith out and Mike Sharavjamts limited to nine minutes before fouling out, Brea picked up their share of the ball-handling duties, turning the ball over just three times with his four assists.  He scored all nine of his points in the first half and matched his career best with two blocked shots. He played a season-high 32 minutes in the game.

UP NEXT

• The Flyers host Saint Louis on Friday at 8 p.m. ET.