Dayton routs Alabama State for fourth straight victory

Dayton routed Alabama State 93-54 on Wednesday, improving to 5-3 with its fourth straight victory — all in the last seven days.

Toumani Camara and Kobe Elvis each scored 16 points. Malachi Smith had 14 points, five assists and seven rebounds, and Mustapha Amzil scored 11. Moulaye Sissoko had eight points on 4-of-5 shooting.

Dayton made 10 of 21 3-pointers (48 percent), its second-best shooting night of the season. It also committed a season-low eight turnovers.

In every way, Dayton looked like a new team compared to the one that beat Illinois-Chicago 64-54 in the season opener Nov. 9 and then lost back-to-back-to-back games to UMass Lowell, Lipscomb and Austin Peay. This looked like the team that won three games against Miami, Kansas and Belmont at the ESPN Events Invitational last weekend.

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Dayton had such a big lead, it cleared the bench in the final minutes. Freshman Kaleb Washington made his college debut and scored his first two career points at the free-throw line. Walk-on Brady Uhl, a third-generation Flyer, played the last 25 seconds.

Elvis returned to the starting lineup in place of Elijah Weaver, who did not play in the game. Coach Anthony Grant said he held Weaver out because of a disciplinary issue.

HALFTIME RECAP

Dayton led by as many as 19 points and built a 36-23 halftime lead Wednesday at UD Arena in their first game since winning the ESPN Events Invitational.

Dayton opened the game with an 18-2 run in the first 10 minutes. Alabama State made 1 of its first 10 field-goal attempts.

Smith made 6 of 6 free throws and led Dayton with 10 points in the half. Amzil, who made the last-second shot to beat No. 4 Kansas on Friday, made 2 of 3 3-pointers and scored six points.

Zimi Nwokeji made his second appearance of the season and missed his only shot attempt in four minutes.

Dayton shot 43 percent from the field, while Alabama State shot 33 percent.