DAYTON – The University of Dayton men's basketball team defeated La Salle at UD Arena on Wednesday night by a score of 70-39. Dayton is now 20-10 (12-5 A-10) this season, while La Salle drops to 9-20 (7-10 A-10).

Wednesday was Senior Night for Josh Cunningham and Jack Westerfield, who were both honored during the pregame, along with the senior team managers Zachary Koch and Alex Geiger. It was the first career start for Westerfield, who nailed a 3-pointer with 26 seconds to go in the game, and Cunningham led all scorers with 18 points and also hauled in five rebounds.

GAME SUMMARY
First Half: Dayton 25, La Salle 18

•    Dayton made just one of its first six shots and La Salle took a 6-3 lead into the first media timeout.
•    La Salle made the next two baskets out of the first media break to extend its lead to seven, its largest of the half.
•    Obi Toppin was responsible for the all five Dayton points at the under-12:00 media timeout, during which point the Flyers trailed, 10-5. Toppin was 2-for-3 from the field at that point, while the rest of the Flyers were a combined 0-10, including an 0-5 mark from behind the arc.
•    After trailing 10-3, Dayton went on an 8-0 scoring run, featuring four points from Jalen Crutcher, to take its first lead of the game.
•    Flyers led 22-18 following the first 3-pointer of the game for Dayton made by Trey Landers.
•    Dayton dominated the end of the first half after a slow start in the beginning, as the Flyers ended the half with a 6-0 run over La Salle. Second Half: Dayton 70 , La Salle 39.

Second Half: Dayton 70, La Salle 39
•    La Salle started the half with a layup made by Kimbrough to make the score 25-20.
•    A Jalen Crutcher layup with the first score for the Flyers in the second half, 27-22.  
•    Obi Toppin's 76th dunk of the season got the Dayton fans on their feet with 13 minutes left, Flyers led 31-26.
•    Dayton went on a 19-2 run over 6:34 at the 5:00 minute mark of the half, leading the Flyers 52-30.
•    After scoring 25 points and shooting 32% from the field in the first half, Dayton scored 45 and shot 70% in the second half.
•    Jack Westerfield re-entered the game with just over two minutes remaining, and Camron Greer hit him for a three-pointer with 26 seconds left that ended the scoring for the game.  

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

•    Cunningham led four Flyers in double figures with 18 points. The others were Obi Toppin (13 points), Ryan Mikesell (12) and Jalen Crutcher (11).
•    Cunningham scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half.  He made six-of-eight shots from the floor, and five-of-six from the line.
•    Crutcher also pulled in a career-best 12 rebounds for a double-double, the third of his career, as well as a team-high six assists.
•    Toppin now has 78 dunks on the season, and is three points away from tying the most points scored by a Flyer in his freshman season at Dayton.
•    UD held La Salle to just 16-57 (28%) from the floor, including a 4-27 (15%) mark from behind the arc.
•    Dayton got to the line 19 times and compared to just four for La Salle. The Flyers made 14 of their 19 attempts for a 74% mark from the charity stripe.
•    The La Salle game was the eighth sellout of the year, which ties the record for the most capacity crowds at UD Arena in a season.  UD also had eight sellouts in the Arena's first year (1969-70).

UP NEXT

•    Dayton will close out the regular season at Duquesne on March 9 at 7 p.m. ET in Pittsburgh.
•    Unofficially, the Flyers have clinched no worse than the third seed in Atlantic 10 Championship tournament.  UD is still in the hunt for a second-place finish.  The A-10 tournament is in Brooklyn at Barclays Center March 13-17.