PITTSBURGH – Top-seed Saint Louis fell 70-69 to No. 4 seed Dayton in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Conference Men's Basketball Championship at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pa.

The Billikens will enter the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship 28-5 overall. Dayton (23-10) advances to tomorrow's A-10 Championship game with an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament on the line.

Saint Louis had the lead at 66-65, setting up a wild final 26.8 seconds. After a SLU turnover, Dayton inbounded the ball and had a drive blocked. The Flyers corralled the offensive board and UD's Jacob Conner knocked in the go-ahead 3-pointer to make it 68-66 Flyers.

The Billikens quickly inbounded the ball and took it down the floor. Robbie Avila set up for a 3-pointer from the top of the key and drained it, giving the lead back to Saint Louis at 69-68 with 6.6 seconds remaining.

Down by one, Dayton then took it the length of the floor. A circus shot by Jordan Derkack didn't fall, but Amael L'Etang was there for the tip-in with 0.6 seconds left, giving Dayton the thrilling victory and sending the Flyers to Sunday's A-10 Championship game.

Amari McCottry led the Billikens with 16 points. He added eight rebounds and five assists. Robbie Avila chipped in 14 points and nine rebounds, while Ishan Sharma (11 points) and Dion Brown (10 points) also scored in double figures for the Bills. 

The back-and-forth game featured three ties and nine lead changes. SLU jumped out to an early advantage, leading by as many as 11 early on. Dayton slowly chipped away at the deficit and briefly grabbed the lead at one point late in the first half. SLU led by three, 36-33, at halftime.

The second half started fast for SLU as the Bills knocked down a pair of treys. Their lead grew to 11 once again as McCottry scored seven straight points, but then the SLU offense went stagnant. Dayton ended up going on an 18-2 run as SLU went 0-for-12 from the field during the dry spell.

A couple of big 3-pointers from SLU got the Bills back into it. Ishan Sharma drilled a trey and was fouled as he completed the four-point play. Quentin Jones drained a circus 3-pointer at the shot clock buzzer to put SLU in front 62-59 late.

Both teams make free throws over the ensuing minutes to set up the final sequence.