This is starting to become a bad habit.

Dayton dropped yet another heartbreaker on the road to Duquesne Sunday, 73-71. Damian Saunders scored 20 for the Dukes, including 16 points in the second half and the go-ahead basket with 25 seconds left to bury Dayton.

Dayton, which dropped to 18-8 (7-5 Atlantic 10), has now lost eight games by a total of 27 points. The Flyers were their own worst enemy in the game, turning the ball over an abysmal 21 times, something that can't be done on the road.

"You can't play them without taking care of the ball, `cause if you don't, you got no chance," Head Coach Brian Gregory said. "It's amazing that with 21 turnovers you're even in the game at that point. I'd rather not have 21 turnovers and 10 by your senior guards."

Chris Johnson led Dayton with 21 points, but shot only 6-16 from the field. He did not make a two-point field goal in the game. Chris Wright added 15 for Dayton, but only had two points in the second half, in part due to foul trouble. He picked up his fourth foul with over 11 minutes left and had to sit for the next seven minutes.

The game was close throughout, with neither team leading by more than seven points. Dayton enjoyed the lead for most of the first 30 minutes, until Saunders converted a three-point play to give Duquesne the lead 49-48 with 12:40 left.

Dayton got 12 big points from Paul Williams, who hit four 3-pointers in the second half. He and Chris Johnson each hit a three to erase Duquesne's 69-63 advantage, its biggest lead of the half.

From that point on it was a dogfight from which the Dukes emerged victorious. It was another Saunders driving layup with 25 seconds remaining which gave Duquesne the lead for good. Dayton was able to muster up two three-point attempts for Chris Johnson, the last of which fell short and out of bounds as time expired.

"That's a pretty good look and we got good penetration and a good reversal," Gregory said. "They trapped and we got out of it and got a good look. To be honest, we shouldn't have put ourselves in that position [to need a last-second shot]."

Dayton fell to seventh in the A-10. A win would have put them in fifth. Having been a 10 seed in Joe Lunardi's Bracketology from Feb. 15, the loss will also leave the Flyers with very little margin for error as the season winds down.

Losing at Duquesne stopped the momentum Dayton had regained with a home win over LaSalle last Thursday. While Dayton did not look its best in that game, it went on a 19-0 run in the second half to seal the deal. That play did not carry over, however, as UD delivered another performance where it did not play to its potential.

"When you play a team like Duquesne, you must play well for 40 minutes to win the game and quite honestly we did not do that," Gregory said. "It's really as simple as that, you have to take care of the ball and rebound for a 40 minute stretch and we did not do that."

Dayton will now look to get back on track with a game in Philadelphia at Temple, currently 10-2 in the A-10. The Owls are also ranked in the Top 25 in both polls, the position many thought the Flyers would have been in before the season started. Still, a win puts Dayton back in the thick of things.