DAYTON - The University of Dayton men's basketball team started the Atlantic 10 Conference season play strong with a convincing 72-48 win over Richmond on Sunday afternoon at UD Arena. The Flyers have now won four in a row and improve to 9-5 with the win, while the Spiders drop to 6-8 on the season. It was a historic day at UD Arena, as the building welcomed its 10 millionth men's basketball fan through its gates on Sunday and Josh Cunningham also surpassed the 1,000 career point threshold for his college career with a game-high 25 points.

Cunningham led the way for the Flyers with his first double-double of the season with his 25 points and 10 rebounds. Obi Toppin added 16 points, while Trey Landers scored nine points and grabbed 10 boards.

GAME BREAKDOWN

  1st Half: Dayton 29, Richmond 18

• Josh Cunningham scored seven of Dayton's first nine points to put the Flyers ahead 9-4 heading into the first media timeout of the game.
• Jacob Gilyard made three 3-pointers in the first eight minutes to keep Richmond close early, as the Spiders trailed 16:12 at the 11:46 mark of the half.
• Dayton responded with an 11-0 run to take a 27-12 lead with 2:48 left in the opening frame.
• Richmond missed 14 consecutive shots during Dayton's run.
• The Spiders cut the lead back into single digits (27-18) following consecutive 3-pointers from Noah Yates and Jake Wojcik.
• Obi Toppin closed out the scoring in the half on a dunk with 36 seconds remaining to give the Flyers a 29-18 advantage heading into the break.
• Richmond's 18 points were the fewest in a half all season for the Spiders.

2nd Half: Dayton 72, Richmond 48

• Richmond's Nathan Cayo immediately cut the lead back to nine with a jumper in the paint on the opening possession of the half.
• Dayton went on another 10-0 run after Cayo's basket to extend the lead to 19 at 39-20, the largest of the game to that point.
• Gilyard's sixth 3-pointer of the night brought Dayton's lead back down to 12 at 43-31 with 11:45 to play. The Flyers put the clamps down on the Spiders from there on out, answering with a 23-2 run until the 4:09 mark, giving them a 66-36 lead and Richmond would never get the margin back within 24 points.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• UD Arena welcomed its 10 millionth fan in the building on Sunday.
• Janis Gudorf was recognized as the 10 millionth fan and received a Flyer Prize Pack.
• For the second straight game, Josh Cunningham led all scorers with 25 points.
• Needing just 12 points entering the game to surpass the 1,000 career points threshold for his college career (one season at Bradley, three at Dayton), Cunningham surpassed the milestone with a free throw at the 6:06 mark of the first half.
• Cunningham now has 20+ points in three of the last four games.
• Cunningham also grabbed 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season and 11th of his career.
• Obi Toppin joined Cunningham in double figures scoring with 16 points.
• Toppin had 12 points and eight rebounds in the second half.
• Trey Landers tied Cunningham for team-high in rebounds with 10, his third straight game with 10 or more rebounds.
• Dayton outscored Richmond 54-12 in the paint.
• 11 of Richmond's 18 made field goals were 3-pointers, while Dayton had 31 made field goals with just three coming from beyond-the-arc.
• The Flyers held Richmond's leading scorer Grant Golden (19.5 ppg) to just four points on 2-of-7 shooting from the floor.

UP NEXT

• Dayton will hit the road for its first away game of the new year on Jan. 9 at George Washington.  Game time is 7:00 p.m. ET.
• The next home game for the Flyers will be Sunday, Jan. 13 at 3:30 p.m. ET against UMass..