DAYTON, OHIO -  DaRon Holmes II scored 22 points and added 13 rebounds to lead preseason Atlantic 10 favorite Dayton (9-5, 1-0) to a 69-57 win over Duquesne (10-4, 0-1) on Wednesday night at UD Arena.

The game was the conference opener for both schools.

Dayton, which entered the game shooting .288 from the 3-point arc, went 8-of- 20 (.400) from deep, while Duquesne, which shot .369 from 3-point in its first 13 games, finished 5-of-21 (.238) from the arc.

Jimmy Clark II led the Dukes with 15 points, a career high-tying eight rebounds and three steals. Tevin Brewer, in his first game back after missing the previous three games due to injury, added 11 points and four assists off the bench.

Dayton hit its first four shots in jumping out to a 10-0 lead. The Flyer lead reached 11 four times, the last of which came at 37-26, before the Dukes closed the half with a Halil Barre basket and a pair of buckets by Austin Rotroff, the second coming on a dunk at the first half horn, cut the Dayton lead to 37-32.

The Flyers went 4-of-7 from the arc in the opening 20 minutes.

A 10-2 UD run, fueled by four points from Holmes, made it 49-36 less than five minutes into the second half.

Duquesne went scoreless for nearly four minutes as Dayton, behind the scoring of Holmes, built its lead to 60-45.

A pair of baskets by Clark cut it to 69-49, but DU would get no closer the rest of the way.

Dayton, which had 14 offensive boards, outrebounded Duquesne 41-27.

Duquesne returns to Pittsburgh to face Rhode Island (4-8, 0-0) in the Dukes A-10 home opener on New Year's Eve at 1:00 p.m. (ESPN+).

NOTES

• R.J. Gunn, in his first appearance since Nov. 14 vs. S.C. State, finished with 7 points off the bench. Gunn missed the past 10 games due to injury. Tevin Brewer (11 points and 4 assists off the bench) was also back in uniform after missing the Dukes' previous three games.
• Halil Barre had 6 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks in 17 minutes off the bench.
• DU had a 30-3 advantage in bench points.
• Duquesne assisted on 13 of its 25 field goals.
• Head coach Keith Dambrot used 12 players in the first half.
• The Dukes, who didn't attempt a free throw until the 18:55 mark of the second half, went 2-of-7 from the foul line.
• Dayton's largest lead was 15, the last of which came at 69-54, with 0:09 left ... Dayton, which led for 39:48, never trailed.