BROOKLYN – The University of Dayton men's basketball team fought back from 10 down to take a lead but the Flyers were out-scored 17-5 down the stretch in a 65-57 loss to Duquesne Thursday in the Quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Championship.

DaRon Holmes II led all scorers with 24 points, with 21 of them coming in the second half.  

Dayton, now 24-7 on the season, has built itself an NCAA at-large-worthy resume and will wait to hear its name called on Selection Sunday.  

GAME RECAP
1st Half – Duquesne 30, Dayton 28
•    Duquesne opened the scoring with a layup, and then Kobe Elvis tied it with a short jumper in the paint.  
•    The Dukes then scored the seven of the next eight points, and eventually led by 10 (14-4) with 11:47 left in the half.
•    Dayton scored the last five points of the half to pull to within two.
•    UD shot exactly the same from two-point range as three-point range -- .308 (4-13)
2nd Half – Duquesne 65, Dayton 57
•    A pair of free throws by DaRon Holmes II tied the game 49 seconds into the second half.
•    The Flyers took their first lead (40-39) at the 15:51 mark on a Holmes three-pointer.
•    Neither team scored for almost five minutes, when Holmes hit another pair of free throws with 11:09 left.
•    Dayton led by four twice (50-46 and 52-48),  with final four-point advantage coming at the 7:15 mark.
•    But then a 10-0 Duquesne run from 5:32 to 3:56 dug a hole too deep to climb out of.
•    UD did get it to within three points (60-57) with 2:08 to go, got a stop and had the ball with a chance to tie but a jump ball situation with 1:15 left was the last time it was a one-possession game.
•    The Flyers were outscored 17-5 in the last  five-and-a-half minutes of the game.

BY THE NUMBERS
•    12 – DaRon Holmes II had 24 points and 13 rebounds for his 12th double-double of the season.
•    21 – Holmes scored 21 of his 24 points in the second hall.  He also scored 21 of UD's 29 second-half points.
•    3 – Holmes's three assists also  led the Flyers.
•    10 – Nate Santos was the only other Dayton player in double figures, with 10.
•    32 – UD shots a season-low 32.0% (16-50) from the field.
•    4 – The top four seeds of the tournament all lost in their first action of the tournament on Thursday.

UP NEXT
•    The Flyers will play in the NCAA tournament.
•    The date, location and opponent will be announced Sunday evening.