No. 7 Dayton Stuns March Madness Fans with Rally to Avoid No. 10 Nevada's Upset Bid

Seventh-seeded Dayton's late surge helped power the Flyers to a narrow 63-60 victory over No. 10 Nevada in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Thursday.

Head coach Anthony Grant's team was dangerously close to losing, trailing 56-39 with just under eight minutes remaining in the second half. Dayton responded with a 17-0 run to tie the game, though.

The teams traded baskets before junior forward Nate Santos finished a tough layup in traffic to give the Flyers a 61-60 advantage. After getting a stop, Santos canned two more free throws to push the lead to three before a potentially game-tying three-point attempt by Nevada missed at the buzzer.

Dayton finished the game by outscoring the Wolf Pack 24-4 over the final seven-and-a-half minutes in regulation, leaving college basketball fans amazed.

Nevada's lack of offensive production down the stretch was surprising, as the team initially scored 34 points in the first half. However, turnovers and missed three-point looks proved to be the difference as the team gave the ball away 12 times compared to 13 assists.

As for Dayton, the win represented the program's first March Madness victory since 2015, which came under former head coach Archie Miller. The Flyers are now set to face off against Arizona in the second round on Saturday at 12:45 p.m. ET.