Former Flyer Toppin hits game-winner for Pacers

Former Dayton Flyers forward Obi Toppin enjoyed one of the best games of his NBA career on Monday.

Toppin made 4 of 4 3-pointers in overtime, including a go-ahead 3 with 3.5 seconds remaining to lift the Indiana Pacers to a 132-130 victory in Minneapolis against the Minnesota Timberwolves, who had won eight games in a row.

“Obi Toppin had one of the most spectacular runs I’ve ever seen,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said.

Toppin, 27, made a career-high 7 of 10 3-pointers. He’s shooting 35.1% from 3-point range this season after shooting 40.3% last season.

“I didn’t feel like I had to be the one to score,” Toppin told reporters. “We’ve got great guys on this team. We go out there and do our job to the best that we can, even if we have guys out. Everybody on the team is a good NBA player.”

Toppin is averaging 10.3 points, the same number he posted last season, in his second season with the Indiana Pacers. His rebounding average (4.1) is the best of his five-year career.

Indiana beat Minnesota without four of its top seven scorers, including Pascal Siakam, who missed the game for personal reasons, and Tyrese Haliburton, who was sidelined by lower back soreness.

The Pacers (38-29) are tied for fourth in the Eastern Conference. The Timberwolves (40-30) are seventh in the Western Conference.

Toppin’s 34 points total tied for the third highest in his career. He scored 42 against the Toronto Raptors in April 2022 in his second season with the New York Knicks. He had 35 that same month against the Washington Wizards. He also scored 34 points against the Pacers in April 2023.

This was Toppin’s second 30-point performance of the season. He had 31 on Feb. 12 in a 134-130 overtime victory against the Wizards.

Toppin, a 6-foot-9 forward from Ossining, N.Y., sat out his freshman season (2017-18) at Dayton as an academic redshirt, played two seasons (2018-20) and left for the NBA after the 2019-20 season when he was the consensus national player of the year. He ranks 41st in UD history with 1,096 points.

Toppin is now the sixth highest-scoring former Flyer in the NBA. With 2,899 points, he trails Jim Paxson (11,199), Roger Brown (10,498), Johnny Davis (9,710), Bucky Bockhorn (5,430) and Don May (3,339).