Recap: Xavier vs. Dayton

Cincinnati, OH (Sports Network) - Dee Davis paced the Musketeers with 14 points as Xavier held on for a 66-61 victory over the Dayton Flyers in an Atlantic 10 Conference thriller at the Cintas Center.

Semaj Christon added 13 points for Xavier (12-8, 5-2 A-10) as it snapped a brief two-game losing slide. Jeff Robinson contributed 12 points and Travis Taylor grabbed 11 rebounds in the winning effort.

Vee Sanford scored 16 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the floor for Dayton (12-8, 2-4), which had won its previous two contests. Kevin Dillard tallied 12 points and five assists while Devin Oliver grabbed six boards for the Flyers.

Xavier made 14 of its 28 field goal attempts to take a 31-27 edge into the break. Robison scored eight points in the first half for the Musketeers, while the Flyers shot just 38.7 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes.

Dayton charged back by shooting 58.3 percent from the field, including 5-of-7 from 3-point range, and grabbed the lead late in the second stanza. The Musketeers also shot well after the intermission, knocking down 14-of-25 from the field and producing 18 second chance points. Davis was sent to the charity stripe with Xavier holding a 62-61 advantage on the scoreboard with 18 seconds left in regulation. After he drained both attempts to push the hosts' lead to three points, Matt Derenbecker's potential game-tying attempt from distance was off the mark and Justin Martin sealed the deal with a pair of makes from the free-throw line.

The Flyers lost despite connecting on 8-of-16 from 3-point range due to their massive, 36-18 rebounding disadvantage. Xavier outscored Dayton, 42-26, in the paint to help power the win.