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DAYTON -- The University Dayton Flyers used a balanced scoring attack and overcame a late charge to defeat the Massachusetts Minutemen 86-79. The Flyers had five players reach double figures and were led in scoring by Jordan Sibert and Dyshawn Pierre with 23 and 16 points respectively. Sibert's 23 points tied a career-high.

With the win, UD improves to 20-9 overall and 8-6 in the Atlantic 10. It is the 10th time since 2000 that the Flyers have reached 20 wins in a season. UMass falls to 22-6, and 9-5 in the A-10.

Dayton's Vee Sanford, Devin Oliver and Khari Price joined Sibert and Pierre in double digits. Sanford had 15 points and six rebounds off the bench. Oliver missed his third double-double in the last four games by one rebound (11 points, nine rebounds, 6-6 FT, four assists vs. one turnover). After scoring just three points over the last three games, Price added 10 with five assists.

Dayton is now 10-0 when scoring 80 or more points and 4-0 when five or more players reach double figures. Trey Davis came off the bench to lead the Minutemen with 19 points.

After exchanging a flurry of baskets with the Minutemen for the first four minutes of play, the Flyers took the lead at the first media break, 11-8 following Devin Oliver's three-point basket.

Massachusetts then went on 6-2 run in the next four minutes to take a 14-13 lead with 11:46 remaining in the first half. The contest stayed close at the 7:59 media break, with Massachusetts holding a 23-21 lead.

The away team extended their lead behind two long-range threes from Davis to make the score 33-26. Sibert cut the lead to four with a three, before a Minutemen bucket by Cady Lalanne brought the lead to six, 35-29 with four minutes remaining in the first half.

A Pierre free throw and a Jalen Robinson basket cut the lead to three, 35-32. UMass hustled down the court, and Derek Gordon's uncontested layup pushed the lead back up to five with 1:35 to go.

Another Robinson basket brought the Flyers to within three again, with just over a minute to go. A strong defensive possession resulted in a fast-break layup for Sanford to cut the lead to one, 37-36. The score stayed at 37-36 going into halftime, despite UMass shooting over 53% from the floor. Pierre was the leading scorer for the Flyers at the half. He scored 11 points in the first half of action.

The Flyers began the second half of action with a 9-0 run, starting with Sibert's three-point basket to give the Flyers a 39-37 lead. It was a lead Dayton would not surrender. Every time the Minutemen made it a one-possession game, the Flyers scored on the next trip down the floor.

The most critical run of play when UMass got to within three, 49-46, with 14:20 left. UD came up with three offensive rebounds before Robinson tipped in a basket off of Pierre's missed layup. However, Derek Gordon finished with a lay-up on the other end to return Dayton's lead at three.

But Sanford finished a lay-up on the next Dayton possession and was fouled on the play. He finished the three-point play to extend the Flyers lead to six at the media break with 11:54 remaining in the game.
After the break, Sibert picked up a loose ball and threw down an emphatic dunk to bring the crowd to their feet.

An easy lay-up by Matt Kavanaugh on an assist from Price brought the Flyers lead to seven, 58-51 with 10:15 to play in the game. On the next Dayton possession, Pierre was fouled on his lay-up attempt, and he converted one of two free throws to extend the lead to eight.

A pair of free throws by Chaz Williams brought the lead back to six, 59-53. A UMass turnover resulted in a fast break that finished with Pierre's reverse slam dunk, which brought the lead back up to eight, 61-53.

A jumper by Raphiael Putney cut the lead to six with 7:36 remaining in the contest. Putney was fouled on the jumper and completed the three-point play to cut the lead to five, 61-56.

Oliver converted two free throws on the offensive end to extend the lead to seven, 63-56. A pair of missed free throws by Davis resulted in another offensive possession for Dayton.

Price was able to convert on his three-point attempt to give the Flyers a 66-56 advantage, their largest lead of the game up until this point in the contest.

Oliver converted on another pair of free throws to give the Flyers a 68-56 lead with 5:40 remaining in the game. On the other end, Williams converted a pair of free throws to bring the lead back down to ten.
Williams went to the line again on the next UMass possession and was able to convert another pair of free throws.

With time running out, UMass stepped up the full-court pressure, and Price was able to break the pressure to find Sibert wide open in the corner for his fourth three-pointer of the contest.

Entering the final media timeout, Dayton led 75-67 with 2:53 remaining in the game. A pair of Maxie Esho free throws cut the lead to six. A Dayton turnover resulted in a Massachusetts fast break. Williams was fouled on his lay-up attempt and made one out of his two free throws to cut the lead to five, 75-70 with 2:15 remaining.

Sanford's runner brought the lead back to seven with just over 2:00 to go in the game. On Massachusetts's next possession, Derek Gordon converted one of his two free throws to make the score 77-71.

Sanford converted a free throw on Dayton's offensive possession to bring the lead back to seven. Price was fouled on the next possession and made a free throw to give the Flyers a 79-71 lead with 1:40 remaining.

The Minutemen extended their full-court pressure, and this led to a Williams lay-up to cut the lead to four, 79-75 with just under a minute to play. Jalen Robinson converted a free throw to bring the lead to five, before Williams' lay-up cut the lead to three with 40 seconds to play.

The Flyers were able to break the full court pressure when Price hit two free throws with 28 seconds left to give the Flyers an 82-77 advantage. A lose ball turnover by the Minutemen gave the Flyers another offensive possession.

Sanford was fouled on the inbounds pass, and made one of two free throws to give the Flyers an 83-77 lead. The Minutemen would not give up, as Williams raced down the court for another basket to cut the lead to four with 11 seconds to play.

However, the late charge would not be enough as the Flyers were able to make their shots from the foul line. Oliver converted two free throws and Price added a free throw in the final seconds to seal the 86-79 win.

Dayton is back in action on Wednesday, traveling to St. Louis to face No. 10 Saint Louis. Game time is 9:00 p.m. ET.