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Forwards Chris Wright and Chris Johnson were the only Flyers in double figures, but it was more than enough as the University of Dayton defeated Western Carolina 71-60 Saturday night at UD Arena. Wright equaled his career high of 30 points, while Johnson scored 14 of his 15 points in the second half.
Western Carolina started the game on a 5-0 run. s. Dayton took its first lead of the game on an alley-oop reverse dunk by Wright from Josh Benson. Wright came out hot, scoring 12 of UD’s first 17 points.
WCU battled back, taking another five-point lead with 1:54 left in the first half, but Dayton closed out the half on a 5-0 run highlighted by freshmen Juwan Staten’s buzzer beater to tie the game at 27-27 at halftime.
The Catamounts took their last lead 31-29 less than two minutes into the second half. Devin Searcy hit a pair of free throws to tie the game at 31, and when Chris Johnson took a steal all the way for a dunk, the Flyers would not trail again.
Those points started a Dayton 15-5 run that made the score 44-35 with 13:28 left in the game. Western Carolina answered back going on a 7-2 run of its own in the next two minutes of the game and bring the score to 46-42. UD responded by extending the lead to 11, 57-46, with 7:24 left.
Wright was whistled for an intentional foul, his fourth, while dribbling upcourt and Western Carolina made its last run of the game to bring the score to 61-58 while Chris Wright was on the bench. The Flyers then went on a 10-0 run, all from the free throw line to salt the game away. WCU scored with 13 seconds left to make the final 71-60.
Wright and Johnson lifted UD on their shoulders in the second half, scoring a combined 31 points of the team’s 44 points and making 10 of their 14 field goal attempts. UD shot .625 (15-24) from the floor and .867 (13-15) from the line in the second half.
Wright was a model of efficiency, scoring his 30 points in just 27 minutes of action, and on just 13 field goal attempts. He made 10 of 13 FG and 10 of 12 FT. His 10 free throws matched his career high. He was also the game’s leading rebounder with eight boards. During the game, he moved past Ed Young into UD’s Top 25 in career scoring. Wright now has 1,280 career points, six behind former teammate Marcus Johnson.
Benson and Juwan Staten each added eight points for UD. Staten, who leads all freshman in the country in assists, led UD with nine versus only two turnovers. Staten has led the Flyers in all 10 games he has played in this season.
Western Carolina was led by redshirt freshmen Trey Sumler, who had 15 points.
The win makes Dayton 8-3 on the year. The loss drops Western Carolina to 4-9 for the season. UD will be back in action on Monday when Winthrop returns to UD Arena. Game time is 7:00 p.m. ET.
