DAYTON, Ohio -- David West has Dayton's number.
In two games against the Flyers this season, the 6-foot-9 forward from Xavier has scored 74 points.
On Saturday, West had 27 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots to lead the 14th-ranked Musketeers to a 73-72 victory over No. 25 Dayton and extend their winning streak to 11 games.
Dayton (19-5, 11-2 Atlantic 10) tried to keep West away from the basket, fronting him to keep him from getting the ball and double-teaming him to force him to pass the ball.
So West did most of his scoring from the outside -- hitting three 3-pointers -- and the free throw line -- going 8-for-8 -- to pace Xavier (20-4, 11-1).
"He is playing great basketball right now," Xavier coach Thad Matta said. "He took what they gave him. He stepped up and took the 3. I thought he had a tremendous all-around game."
Dayton coach Oliver Purnell said Dayton did a better job controlling West than in the game between the teams on Feb. 8, when West had 47 points in Xavier's 85-77 win.
"I wasn't shocked that he took some 3," Purnell said. "He's not a 100-percent 3-point shooter. But we said that if he's going to shoot them, then we have to get up on him."
Despite West's dominating performance, the outcome of the game hung in the balance through the final seconds.
With Dayton leading 72-71, Xavier's Dedrick Finn launched a 3-pointer with 26 seconds left as the shot clock ran out. The shot missed, but Lionel Chalmers was there for the offensive rebound and laid it in.
"I believe (Dayton's) Mark Jones bobbled it, and I grabbed it and put it up strong," Chalmers said.
Dayton had a chance to win, but Ramod Marshall missed his shot as he drove the lane and the ball went out of bounds with a second to play. It was Dayton's first home loss this season and the Flyers have won 12 of 14, both losses to the Musketeers.
"We battled all game, but we missed a key rebound at the end and that's all it took," Marshall said. "I had to improvise the last shot. I tried to put too much touch on it and it came up short."
Matta called the game a "huge win."
"I thought we showed a lot of toughness down the stretch," he said. "Different guys made big plays at big times."
Romain Sato had 16 points and Anthony Myles added 15 points and 15 rebounds for Xavier.
Will Caudle, a 6-9 center averaging four points a game, came off the bench and went 5-for-5 from the field in the first half. He finished with 10 points.
Keith Waleskowski had 18 points and Sean Finn added 17 for the Flyers, who were outrebounded 38-30.
"We got killed on the boards," said Finn, a 6-11 center. "That's not all me, but it's on me. I know we can rebound better than that."
Dayton, which was 13-0 at home, took a 24-22 lead when Waleskowski hit a 3-pointer from the baseline with 6:49 left in the first half. West hit a 3-pointer with less than a second remaining to give Xavier a 38-32 halftime lead.
"This is a tough place to get a win," West said. "They hadn't lost here all year, and we came in determined."
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