Dayton rode 27 points from DaRon Homes II, one of the top players in the nation, to a 78-69 win over Longwood on Saturday.
Dayton (10-2) needed a huge game from Holmes after Longwood (12-3) played one of their finest halves of the season in the opening 20 minutes. The Lancers had four players score in double figures thanks to a spread attack, with Johnathan Massie leading the way with 15 points, Michael Christmas and Walyn Napper adding 12 points apiece and Elijah Tucker chipped in 11.
Holmes, in addition to his 27 points, had 10 rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks.
“First off, I’m really proud of the guys,” said Longwood Head Coach Griff Aldrich. “I thought we really battled against a very talented team that’s going to win a lot of games. I was really proud that they competed the way they did. I thought our first half was absolutely some of the best basketball we’ve played all season. At the end of the day, we’ve been talking a lot with the guys about execution and needing to execute. There were too many mistakes down the stretch.”
Longwood’s defense made things difficult for a Dayton team that came in receiving votes in the AP Top 25 and was the preseason favorite in the A-10, as the Lancers seized a 25-17 lead.
Holmes responded for Dayton and found Javon Bennett for a triple before hitting one of his own on the next possession to cut the Lancer lead to two.
Longwood bounced right back, with the guard tandem of Napper (six assists), DA Houston (eight points, three assists) and Massie repeatedly finding the Lancer big men for buckets in the interior.
The two sides traded blows over the final minutes of the first half. Szymon Zapala, who had nine points and 10 rebounds, twirled in a layup for a six-point advantage, but Holmes answered with another three as time expired to trim the Longwood lead to 37-34 at the break.
After halftime, Holmes again featured heavily for the home side, but he had Kobe Elvis hit back-to-back threes to give Dayton its first lead of the night.
The Lancers answered, and Elijah Tucker sank two foul shots a few minutes later to give Longwood a 45-41 lead. Tucker finished with 11 points, his fourth game in double figures for the Lancers.
Holmes, much like he was all night, had the answer again. He scored four straight to tie the game, and then Dayton’s three-point snipers got hot. Back-to-back threes gave Dayton a 51-47 lead, and the Flyers would never relinquish it thereafter.
The lead grew to 60-48 with 7:48 to play, but the Lancers refused to fold. Christmas muscled home an offensive rebound to jumpstart a 7-0 Longwood run that trimmed the margin to 60-55.
That was as close as the Lancers would get the rest of the way.
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Chris Graham
