PHOENIX – The No. 19/17 University of Dayton men's basketball team pulled out a 78-68 win over the Saint Mary's Gaels during the Air Force Reserve Jerry Colangelo Classic. Dayton improved to 7-1 on the season while Saint Mary's fell to 9-2.
 
The Flyers were led by Jalen Crutcher with 21 points, four rebounds and six assists while winning MVP of the Colangelo Classic. Three other Flyers also scored in double figures including Obi Toppin (16), Trey Landers (15) and Ibi Watson (11).
 
GAME BREAKDOWN
1st Half: Dayton 46, Saint Mary's 25 
• The Flyers fell behind 4-3 before going on a 10-0 run to take a 13-4 lead.
• Dayton made nine straight field goals in the middle of the half to extend the lead to 24-13.
• After a five-minute stretch without a field goal, Crutcher, Landers, and Crutcher again hit consecutive threes to give Dayton their largest lead at 35-18.
• Jalen Crutcher led the Flyers with 19 points on 6-of-7 shooting.
• The Flyers shot 16-of-23 (70%) from the field in the first half while holding the Gaels to just 8-of-24 (33%) from the field. 
• Dayton was hot from beyond the arc converting on 10-of-15 (66%) from deep.
• The Flyers capitalized off turnovers in the half, scoring 16 points off of eight Saint Mary's turnovers.
• Dayton assisted on 10 of their 16 made field goals, with Jalen Crutcher leading the team with four.
 
2nd Half: Dayton 78, Saint Mary's 68 
• The Gaels went on a 16-2 run to close the Flyers' lead to 58-48 by the under-12 media timeout.
• Saint Mary's did not get any closer than eight in the half
• Obi Toppin, Trey Landers, and Ibi Watson all moved into double figures.
• Dayton out-rebounded Saint Mary's 18-14 during the half.
• Trey Landers recorded 12 points and eight rebounds in the second half after just three points and zero rebounds in the first half.
 
 INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Dayton led for a total of 35:35 in the game, while leading by double-digits for nearly 30 minutes as well.
• The Flyers shot a season-best 54% (13-of-24) from beyond the arc. 
• Dayton had 19 fast break points compared to just seven for Saint Mary's.
• Trey Landers hit three total three-pointers in the game, his highest this season.
• The Flyers had 16 turnovers, their second-most in a game this season, but only gave up 11 points off those turnovers.
• Dayton assisted on 15 of 28 made field-goals.
• Four Flyers ended in double-figures, Crutcher with 21, Toppin with 16, Landers with 15, and Watson added 11 points.
• Crutcher's 21 points were a season-high.
• Rodney Chatman had the primary assignment on Gaels star Jordan Ford.  Ford came into the game averaging 20.2 points a game, but was held to five in the first half and 11 for the game.
 
UP NEXT
• After exam week, Dayton will return to UD Arena to play Drake on Saturday, Dec. 14 at 7 p.m. ET.