L’Etang’s career-high 26 points helps Dayton to a 77-62 win over No. 23 Saint Louis

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Amael L’Etang scored a career-high 26 points and Javon Bennett added 17 as Dayton beat No. 23 Saint Louis 77-62 on Tuesday night.

Saint Louis has lost two of its last three games since winning 18 straight. The Billikens were 25-2 for just the second time in school history, and the loss to Dayton prevented them from reaching 26-2 for the first time.

Jordan Derkack scored 14 points for the Flyers (19-9, 10-5 A-10), who improved to 14-2 at home. It was their 12th straight win over Saint Louis in UD Arena.

Kellen Thomas led the Billikens with 24 points and Dion Brown had 15.

After trailing by as many has 25 points in the first half, the Billikens (25-3, 13-2) got within 11 late in the second half, but couldn’t complete the comeback.

Saint Louis endured a nightmarish start.

The Billikens, who came in ranked fifth nationally in scoring offense at 90.1 points per game, started 1 for 12 from the field and were scoreless for nearly five minutes.

Dayton took advantage with a 10-0 run to build an early 13-4 lead. Keonte Jones’ dunk made the score 20-6.

Derkack and L’Etang hit back-to-back 3s to extend the Flyers’ lead to 30-11. L’Etang had 16 points in the half.

Dayton was 7 of 11 from 3-point range in the first half while the Billikens went 1 for 12. The Flyers led 44-28 at halftime.

After shooting 64% in the first half, the Flyers went cold at the start of the second.

Saint Louis reduced the Dayton’s lead to 13 on Robbie Avila’s 3-pointer. Avila had 10 points.

A Flagrant-1 foul on Saint Louis’ Quentin Jones resulted in two free throws and then a layup from Derkack, extending the Flyers’ lead to 57-40.

Bennett’s fastbreak layup off an assist from Jones made it 63-45 with 8:31 left.

Saint Louis won the teams’ first meeting 102-71 last month. Trey Green scored 23 points in that win, but had two points Tuesday.

Up next

Saint Louis: Hosts Duquesne on Saturday.

Dayton: At George Washington on Friday.

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