Here’s a quick recap of the game:
What it means: Dayton (11-3, 1-0) won its 26th straight game at UD Arena. This is the third-longest streak in school history. The Flyers won 30 home games in a row from March 2008 to January 2010 and 27 in a row from February 2014 to December 2016.
Dayton improved to 32-18 against La Salle (8-6, 0-1) and has won the last three games in the series. The Explorers have won once in their last 17 trips to UD Arena.
Star of the game: Malachi Smith led Dayton with 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting.
Stat of the game: Dayton outscored La Salle 23-12 in fast-break points.
Turning point: Dayton led La Salle by 17 points early in the second half. La Salle cut the deficit to six points four times in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Dayton then went on a 13-2 run and led by at least eight points the rest of the way.
Looking ahead: Dayton plays George Washington (11-3, 0-1) at noon Saturday at the Charles E. Smith Center in Washington, D.C. George Washington lost 66-61 at Richmond (6-8, 1-0) on Tuesday.
Dayton has won seven of the last eight games in the series against George Washington.
Credit: David Jablonski
FIRST-HALF RECAP
Dayton outscored La Salle 19-3 in the final eight minutes of the first half to build a 36-21 halftime lead.
Here’s a quick recap of the first half:
Key players: Jacob Conner led Dayton with seven points off the bench. Javon Bennett and Amaël L’Etang each scored six. All nine players who saw action in the half for Dayton scored at least one point.
Important stat: Dayton’s bench outscored La Salle’s 20-5. Dayton redshirt freshman forward Jaiun Simon, who had six points in his career entering the game, scored five points in the half. He made his first career 3-pointer after missing five in his first 11 appearances.
Big run: La Salle led 18-17 at the 8:55 mark after Mac Etienne made 1 of 2 free throws. A 3-point play by Enoch Cheeks at the 7:58 mark started a 14-0 Dayton run.
Long drought: After the free throw by Etienne, La Salle missed eight straight shots and committed three turnovers before scoring again at the 2:10 mark on a layup by Eric Acker.
Cold shooting: Dayton shot 28.6% (4 of 14) from 3-point range. La Salle shot 20% (2 of 10).
Free-throw struggles: La Salle made 3 of 8 free throws and twice missed the front end of 1-and-1 opportunities.
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