Dayton uses second-half rally to slip past Richmond 85-84

Mar 1, 2016, 10:49 pm

RICHMOND, Va. -- Scoochie Smith scored 24 of his career-high 26 points in the second half to help Dayton rally for an 85-84 win over Richmond on Tuesday night.

Charles Cooke hit four 3-pointers and finished with 21 points, while Dyshawn Pierre scored 15 and grabbed 10 rebounds for Dayton.

An 11-4 run to open the second half put the Flyers (23-6, 13-4 Atlantic 10) up 43-41, but Richmond scored 17 of the next 21 points to open the biggest lead of the game, 58-47, with 11:39 left.

The Spiders (15-14, 7-10) made just 2 of 9 shots over the next 10-plus minutes as Dayton used a 27-10 spurt to open up a six-point lead on a 3-pointer by Cooke with 2:05 remaining.

Dayton, which shot 61.5 percent in the second half, made 11 of 14 free throws -- including 8 of 10 by Smith -- in the final 1:16 to seal it.

T.J. Cline led Richmond with a career-high 36 points.