Dayton gets back to .500 with victory at Richmond

Cunningham leads offense with 20 points
Dayton's Josh Cunningham scores against Richmond on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018, at the Robins Center in Richmond, Va.

Credit: David Jablonski - Staff Writer

Credit: David Jablonski - Staff Writer

Dayton's Josh Cunningham scores against Richmond on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018, at the Robins Center in Richmond, Va.

The Dayton Flyers held off Richmond in the final minutes for an 87-81 victory Tuesday at the Robins Center.

Josh Cunningham scored 20 points, ending the game with a dunk. He made all eight of his field-goal attempts. Trey Landers added a career-high 18 points. Darrell Davis scored 17.

Dayton improved to 8-8 and 2-2 in the Atlantic 10. It continued a trend of winning a game after every loss and vice versa. That has continued all season except for one two-game losing streak.

The Flyers shot 63.5 percent from the field and won despite allowing Richmond to make 12 of 31 3-pointers. The Flyers made 14 of 15 free throws. Dayton committed 15 turnovers to Richmond’s five.

HALFTIME RECAP

The Dayton Flyers shot 67.9 percent from the field in the first half Tuesday against Richmond, building a 47-35 halftime lead at the Robins Center.

Dayton's star: Josh Cunningham made 6 of 6 shots from the field and scored 15 points.

Richmond's star: Julius Johnson scored nine points off the bench for the Spiders, making 3 of 3 3-pointers.

» RELATED: Best and worst of first half of season

Key stat: Dayton made 5 of 11 3-pointers, 19 of 28 field goals and 4 of 4 free throws.

Big run: Richmond cut Dayton's lead to 36-33 with 2:35 to play. Dayton ended the half on a 11-2 run.

Big shot: John Crosby drew a foul, made a 3-pointer and hit the free throw for a 4-point play with three seconds to play.

Improved performance: Matej Svoboda played seven minutes. He had two points, making his only shot from the field, and had three assists.

Pregame news: Freshman center Jordan Pierce didn't make the trip to Richmond with the team. He stayed back in Dayton because of disciplinary reasons, a UD spokesman said.

Big picture: Dayton and Richmond entered the game as two of the nine teams tied for last place in the Atlantic 10 at 1-2. They are two of the three teams — Fordham being the other — that have not won two games in a row all season.

Series history: Dayton entered the game with a five-game winning streak in the series  The Flyers lost six games in a row at the Robins Center before an 85-84 victory in 2016.

The Richmond Spiders have a real, live spider mascot.

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