Dayton takes control in final 10 minutes to beat Saint Joseph’s

Toppin scores 25 points to lead the Flyers

Credit: David Jablonski - Staff Writer

Credit: David Jablonski - Staff Writer

The Dayton Flyers blew a 12-point lead in the second half but then took control with a 13-2 run midway through the half to beat Saint Joseph’s 75-64 on Tuesday at UD Arena.

The Hawks tied the game at 50-50 on a 3-pointer by Taylor Funk with 10:43 to play. Obi Toppin scored Dayton’s next four points, and that started the winning rally.

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Toppin scored 25 points on 11-of-14 shooting and grabbed 12 rebounds. Ryan Mikesell added 21 points.

Chris Clover scored 21 points for Saint Joseph’s. Charlie Brown had 14 of his 19 points in the first half.

Dayton (14-7, 6-2) matched its win total from last season and moved into third place by itself with the rest of the conference idle on Tuesday. George Mason (13-8, 7-1) and Davidson (15-5, 6-1) lead the way. The Hawks (9-12, 2-6) fell into 11th place.

HALFTIME RECAP

The Flyers outscored Saint Joseph’s 22-4 in the last 10:15 of the first half to take a 39-30 halftime lead.

The Hawks led 26-17 at the 10:25 mark and made two more baskets the rest of the way. Dayton began a 14-0 run after falling behind by nine.

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Mikesell led the Flyers with 11 points. He made 2 of 4 3-pointers and also had a 3-point play. Toppin scored 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

Brown, the Atlantic 10’s leading scorer, scored 10 points in the first three minutes for the Hawks and then four points in the rest of the half. He made 6 of 11 shots.

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Saint Joseph’s made five of its first six shots and then struggled. It shot 44.4 percent. It made 4 of 15 3-pointers.

Dayton shot 50 percent. The Flyers made 13 of 20 shots from 2-point range. They outscored the Hawks 26-10 in the paint.

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