Flyers lose finale; but make A10 bracket

WASHINGTON, DC - Dyshawn Pierre tallied 21 points and seven rebounds, but his 3-pointer to win the game was too late as the Dayton Flyers lost 81-80 in overtime to the George Washington Colonials.  Fordham beat St. Bonaventure so the Flyers grab the Number-12 seed in the Atlantic Ten tournament.

Kevin Dillard added 20 points and four assists, while Vee Sanford chipped in with 18 points and five rebounds. Josh Benson added 10 points and four rebounds.

UD had a four-point lead and the ball with under a minute to go in the OT but had two straight turnovers. Isaiah Armwood’s put-back dunk with 2.4 seconds left gave GW a one-point lead.

Pierre got off 3-pointer from the corner but the buzzer went off a fraction before he let it go.

GW struck first in the overtime, but Pierre hit a 3-pointer, and UD took a 77-75 lead on the freshman’s spinning floater in the lane with 1:31 to go.

Armwood was called for traveling, and UD took a timeout with 1:13 left.

Pierre scored on a drive for a four-point lead, and Lasan Kromah missed two foul shots with 50.1 left. But Pierre lost his dribble near midcourt, and Joe McDonald scooped it up raced to a layup with 40.3 to go.

After a Khari Price turnover against the press, Dwayne Smith scored and was fouled with 34.7 left. He missed the free throw. And Matt Derenbecker drove and got a blocking call with 7.7 seconds left.

He missed the first and made the second for a one-point lead. But after GW’s Kromah drove and missed a scoop, Armwood followed with a put-back dunk with 2.4 seconds left.

The Flyers had to go the length of the floor and completed a long pass to Pierre, but he couldn’t get the shot off in time.

The Flyers, who are 0-7 in games decided by three points or fewer this season, are 17-13 overall and finish 7-9 in the league. GW, 13-16 and 7-9, all but locks up a spot in the A-10 tourney because of its head-to-head win against UD.

Dayton converted 57 percent of its shots from the field, the sixth straight game shooting better than 50 percent from the field. However, UD committed 21 turnovers and was out-rebounded 42-34. George Washington corralled 23 offensive rebounds.