Dayton led by as many as 16 points, but VCU chipped away, chipped away, chipped away, and finally took the lead with a late steal and layup by Nick Kern Jr. to complete a 63-62 win on Friday night.
The Rams (13-5, 4-1 A-10) trailed 33-19 at the half, but stormed out of the locker room with an 11-2 run in the first 3:11 to get back to down five, and a David Shriver three cut the deficit to one, 46-45, with 10:35 to go.
Dayton (12-6, 4-1 A-10) would get the lead back to eight. VCU fought back to being down four, 62-58, with a minute left, and Shriver intercepted a Dayton inbounds pass at midcourt and buried a three-pointer from the left wing to cut the Flyers advantage to 62-61 with 28.1 seconds remaining.
On the ensuing possession, VCU trapped Camara on the left sideline. Kern poked the ball away and raced to the hoop for the go-ahead score. Dayton had one last look on its final possession, but Toumani Camara’s jumper fell short.
Shriver led the Rams with 18 points, all in the second half, on 6-of-8 shooting from three.
Brandon Johns Jr. scored 16 points for the Black and Gold, while Kern, making his second career start, added nine points, three rebounds and two steals.
Camara led all scorers with 27 points and 11 rebounds for the Flyers.
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Chris Graham
