January 29, 2009 | AP Press

DAYTON, OH — Marcus Johnson’s dunk off an alleyoop pass from Rob Lowery with 1:06 to play gave Dayton a 47-46 victory Thursday night in a defense-dominant struggle with Saint Louis.

Chris Wright had 16 points for Dayton (19-2, 5-1 Atlantic 10), and Charles Little had 14.

Kwamain Mitchell led the Billikens (11-9, 2-4) with 15 points, but his 8-foot jumper with 4 seconds left fell off the rim.

Dayton trailed 28-27 at the half en route to a record 15th straight victory in UD Arena. The Flyers are 8-0 this season in games decided by five points or less, and this one included five ties and 11 lead changes.

January 25, 2009 | AP Press

DAYTON, OH — Chris Wright scored 19 points and Chris Johnson added 17 as Dayton beat St. Bonaventure 80-68 Sunday afternoon to win their 14th straight at home.

Dayton (18-2, 4-1 Atlantic 10) went in front for good during a 14-1 first half run that featured a Rob Lowery 3-pointer and ended with a dunk from Wright that put the Flyers ahead 30-20 with 4:03 left in the half.

Dayton scored nine straight points early in the second when Lowery hit another 3-pointer, Wright dunked and Marcus Johnson followed with two dunks of his own to put Dayton up 43-28 with 16:26 left. St. Bonaventure (11-8, 2-4) would only get as close as eight the rest of the way.

Chris Matthews scored 28 points, including eight 3-pointers, and Jonathan Hall added 12 for the Bonnies, which lost for the first time on the road this season.

Lowery and Marcus Johnson each finished with 15 points for Dayton.

January 22, 2009 | AP Press

WASHINGTON, DC – Chris Wright made three free throws — the first two after a technical foul on George Washington for having six players on the court — as Dayton escaped with a 63-61 victory on Thursday night.

The Colonials were assessed the technical when the Flyers (17-2, 3-1 Atlantic 10 Conference) attempted to inbound the ball at their own end with 21.9 seconds left.

Wright made both free throws for a 62-61 lead. He was fouled again when Dayton inbounded and made the first of two free throws with 21.3 seconds left.

Tony Taylor missed a 3-point attempt with 2.5 seconds left and Rob Diggs’ putback rimmed out as the horn sounded.

Marcus Johnson had 17 points to lead Dayton, which has won three straight and nine of its last 10.

Wynton Witherspoon had 19 points and seven rebounds to lead George Washington (6-10, 0-4), which lost its eighth straight.

January 17, 2009 | AP Press

PITTSBURGH, PA – Rob Lowery scored 16 points and directed a 12-point run that started late in the first half and carried into the second, helping Dayton end Duquesne’s seven-game winning streak with a 78-69 victory Saturday night.

Bill Clark scored 19, Aaron Jackson 18 and Damian Saunders 13, but Duquesne (12-5, 3-1 in Atlantic 10) was denied its first eight-game winning streak since the 1971-72 season.

The Flyers (16-2, 2-1) trailed 38-35 before going on the run, which made it 47-38 after Luke Fabrizius’ 3-pointer with 16:56 remaining. Dayton, which shot 58 percent (29-of-50), never led by fewer than three points after that while relying on a defense that limited Duquesne to 42.6 percent shooting (26-of-61).

Charles Wright scored 15, Marcus Johnson and Fabrizius had 11 each and Chris Johnson scored 10 for the Flyers, who were upset by Duquesne the last two seasons.

With Duquesne applying full-court pressure to try to come back, Dayton broke the press to dunk for three consecutive baskets in a 90-second stretch — by Chris Johnson, Wright and Little — to make it 74-63 with 2:02 to play. The Flyers’ seven dunks gave them 61 for the season, matching a school record with 13 games remaining.

January 10, 2009 | AP Press

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Ricky Harris scored a game-high 23 points as Massachusetts used a strong second half to beat Dayton, 75-62, in an Atlanic 10 Conference opener Saturday.

The Minutemen (6-8, 1-0 Atlantic 10) led by only two points at halftime but vaulted to a 24-9 edge in the first 10 minutes of the second half to take 59-42 lead. The Minutemen had a 15-0 run over 6:43 in the second half while Dayton went without a field goal over an 8:36 span.

The Flyers (14-2, 0-1 Atlantic 10) saw their six-game winning streak snapped.

The game was tied four times in the first half, the last time at 33. A hoop by Harris put the Minutemen on top 35-33 at the break.

January 6, 2009 | AP Press

DAYTON, Ohio — Charles Little sparked a rally with 4:31 left in the game to help Dayton surge past Miami of Ohio, 45-40, in a close matchup Tuesday at the UD Arena.

Dayton (14-1) outscored Miami (7-5) 10-4 in the game’s waning minutes, with Little’s layup putting Dayton back on top 37-36. The Flyers never lost the lead after that.

Chris Wright was the game’s top scorer with 14 points and six rebounds for Dayton. Marcus Johnson added 12 points, and Little contributed eight for the Flyers. It was Johnson’s sixth straight game scoring in the double figures.

The lead swung back and forth 15 times during the tightly contested game, and the teams were tied 17-17 at halftime.

It was the final non-conference game of the year for both teams.

Julian Mavunga came off the bench to lead scoring for Miami with 12 points, while Tyler Dierkers added eight points.

January 2, 2009 | AP Press

TOLEDO, OH — Marcus Johnson scored 21 points, including several key 3-pointers, as Dayton went ahead late in the first half and hung on to beat Toledo 77-63 Friday night.

Charles Little’s dunk put the Flyers (13-1) ahead 45-30 early in the second, but Toledo (2-11) narrowed it with 13:35 left when Justin Anyijong hit a 3-pointer to cut Dayton’s lead to 47-42.

Johnson responded with back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Flyers another comfortable margin, and then made a layup and another 3-pointer at about the eight minute mark to stave off another Toledo threat and put Dayton ahead 60-49.

The Rockets could only get within nine the rest of the way.

Rob Lowery scored 13 points, London Warren had 11 and Little added eight for the Flyers.

Jonathan Amos scored 23 points, Anyijong had 16 and Tyrone Kent 12 for Toledo. Anyijong added 12 rebounds.

December 30, 2008 | AP Press

DAYTON, OH — Rob Lowery stole the ball for a dunk to tie the game with 2:09 to play, and Chris Johnson followed with a 3-pointer to put Dayton ahead for good, as the Flyers beat George Mason 66-62 on Tuesday night.

The Patriots (8-3) led for most of the second half, pulling to a 5-point advantage on a 3-pointer by Dre Smith with 4:41 left to play, but Dayton (12-1) went on an 11-2 run to steal the win.

The Flyers were led by Lowery and Marcus Johnson, who had 13 points each. George Mason’s Dre Smith had 22, and Cam Long added 15.

The Patriots held the lead for longer than 19 straight minutes around the break, pulling ahead by as many as 7 points. They started the second half with a 35-30 lead.

It was the 27th consecutive non-conference home win for the Flyers, who have not allowed any team to shoot higher than 45 percent form the field this season.

December 23, 2008 | AP Press

DAYTON, OH — Chris Wright had 16 points and Marcus Johnson added 11 to lead Dayton to a 62-50 victory over Marshall on Tuesday night.

It was the third win for the Flyers (11-1) since their lone loss at Creighton.

Chris Lutz had 14 points for Marshall (6-5).

Marshall trailed 25-22 at halftime but started the second half with a 3-pointer by Lutz, and the Thundering Herd kept it close, going to 40-40 on a 3-pointer by Darryl Merthie at 12:28.

But Marshall went scoreless for the next 9 minutes while Dayton made a 12-0 run that included two baskets by Wright and four free throws by Stephen Thomas.

December 20, 2008 | AP Press

DAYTON, OH — Charles Little contributed 15 points and four Dayton players reached double figures Saturday night as the Flyers defeated UNC-Greensboro 75-44.

Little, who was 6-of-6 shooting, scored dunks on three straight possessions in the second half, and Dayton (10-1) set a school record with nine dunks. The Flyers are 7-0 at home.

Mikko Koivisto paced the 1-8 Spartans with 10 points. UNC-Greensboro was limited to 28.9 percent shooting.

Chris Johnson scored 12 while Marcus Johnson and Luke Fabrizius each had 10 for Dayton.

UNC-Greensboro challenged Dayton defensively early in the game. It was 7-7 before Fabrizius hit a 3-pointer with 11:37 left in the first half. That set off a 15-3 Dayton run.

The Flyers led 37-15 at the half and surged ahead by as much as 35 points late in the second half.