VCU beats Dayton 70-62 to win second straight Atlantic 10 Tournament, earn spot in NCAA Tournament
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Nyk Lewis finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds and No. 2 seed VCU beat fourth-seeded Dayton 70-62 on Sunday to win a second straight Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament and clinch a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
VCU (27-7) will make its 21st March Madness appearance. The Rams made it all the way to the Final Four before losing in 2011.
Lewis hit 4 of 5 shots from beyond the 3-point line but just 1 of 5 inside it for VCU. Reserves Terrence Hill Jr. and Michael Belle scored 14 and 12, respectively.
Javon Bennett led Dayton (23-11) with 14 points and Amael L’Etang scored 12.
Hill and Barry Evans connected from beyond the arc to give VCU a 16-10 lead and the Rams never trailed again in building a 40-25 advantage at halftime.
Dayton whittled the deficit to 10 early in the second half, but Belle buried a 3-pointer and Hill hit a pull-up jumper for a 48-33 lead with 15 minutes remaining.
The Flyers trailed by 10 when they missed the front end of a 1-and-1 twice. Jordan Derkack made 1 of 4 foul shots before Amael L’etang sank a pair to cut it to 60-53 with 2:02 remaining, but the Flyers got no closer.
Dayton, swept by VCU during the regular season, was aiming for a 20th NCAA Tournament appearance. Dayton lost to UCLA in the 1967 title game, giving Hall of Fame coach John Wooden his third championship in four seasons. Lew Alcindor led the way for the Bruins.
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