DAYTON – The University of Dayton men's basketball team rocked the house on a special Hall of Fame night, slamming its way past the University of North Florida, 84-61, at UD Arena on Saturday night.

Despite a cold start, the Flyers (8-3) quickly recovered thanks to an 18-0 run to put away the Osprey (2-8) and get back on the winning track.

Junior De'Shayne Montgomery led UD with 23 points, while sophomore Amaël L'Etang and redshirt freshman Malcolm Thomas both scored 14, while L'Etang pulled down a career-best 14 rebounds. Senior Javon Bennett finished the game with 10 points.
 
On a night that saw Flyer legend Obi Toppin inducted into the UD Athletics Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame Class of 1993 Johnny Davis celebrated earning his University of Dayton degree in front of the Flyer Faithful.

GAME RECAP
First Half – Dayton 46, North Florida 23
• After a slow start to the game where both defenses prevailed, the Flyers got their first points of the game at the free-throw line as De'Shayne Montgomery made one of two attempts. After an offensive rebound by Amaël L'Etang , Jordan Derkack finished a layup to give the Flyers a 3-2 lead with 16:42 left in the half. 
• North Florida momentarily grabbed the lead at 6-5, Javon Bennett knocked down a transition three to put UD back up at 7-6. '
• Malcolm Thomas made himself known with buckets on two consecutive possessions, first a steal converted into a layup, and then an emphatic alley-oop with an assist from Bryce Heard to push the lead to 11-6 at the 13:14 mark.
• Thomas threw down another dunk off an assist from Jacob Conner to push the Flyer run to 10-0 and the lead to 15-6 at the under-12 media timeout. 
• The high-flying aerial display continued when Montgomery caught a lob from Derkack and threw down a slam. 
• Montgomery scored the Flyers' next three buckets, a step-back three and a fast break layup before grabbing a steal and converting it into an exciting windmill slam, which made the Dayton run 19-0 over more than five minutes and gave UD a 24-6 lead with nine minutes to play in the half. 
• After a Bennett steal, Keonte Jones finished a tough fast break layup to push the lead to 28-11.
• The Flyers scored three times in a row out of the under-eight timeout, where UD great Obi Toppin was honored. A Thomas layup led to a Bennett three-pointer before Thomas got himself into double figures with an electrifying slam dunk, reminiscent of Toppin, that ignited the UD Arena crowd.
• Thomas continued his big-time dunk show with yet another slam to push the lead to 37-16 with just under four minutes on the clock. Four of his first six field goals were dunks. 
• Conner hit a three out of the media timeout as the Flyers eclipsed 40 points on the night. 
• The Flyers' defense was impressive in the first 20 minutes as they held the Ospreys to 23 points on just 27% shooting while recording three blocks and seven steals. 

Second Half – Dayton 84, North Florida 61
• Jones opened up the scoring for UD, finishing off an alley-oop pass from Derkack on the first possession of the half.
• Even with a 28-point lead, the Flyers did not let up their defensive effort as Montgomery blocked an Osprey would-be layup off the backboard. 
• After a North Florida basket, Montgomery hit nothing but net from behind the arc to push the lead to 56-27 with 16 minutes left. 
• Back-and-forth action over the next minute saw the score stand at 60-29 before Montgomery converted his second consecutive three-point attempt, giving him 23 on the night, with 14:50 left. 
• Bennett got himself in double-figures with a corner three to push the lead to 66-30 with 13:51 on the clock. 
• Thomas set a new career-high in scoring with a spinning finish at the basket, giving him 14 points on the night. 
• On the defensive side of the ball, Conner jumped a pass and took it all the way to the hoop for a dunk, making it a 70-33 lead for UD with 12:30 left in the game. 
• After a mini-run from UNF saw the score at 72-41, the Flyers scored six consecutive points, four of which came from Bryce Heard, while L'Etang recorded two blocks on the defensive end to push the lead to 78-41at the under-eight timeout. 
• A field goal drought of almost three minutes for UD saw North Florida get the score to 79-47 until L'Etang grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back up for a layup, pushing the score to 81-47 with four minutes left to play. 
• Makai Grant checked into the game with two minutes left and, on his first shot of the night,  hit a corner three for his first career points.
• The Ospreys ended the game on a 14-6 run, but it was not enough to make more than a dent in the deficit as the Flyers ended up prevailing by a 23-point margin.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
4 - Malcolm Thomas threw down four dunks in the game, the most of any Flyer this year.
8 - The Flyer defense was stout as they blocked eight shots, four of which came from Thomas.
14 - Thomas ended the night with a new career high in points.
14 - rebounds for 
20 - Four Flyers had +/- scores of at least 20. Keonte Jones (20), Javon Bennett (21), Jordan Derkack (22), and De'Shayne Montgomery (33) led the way in that metric.
34 - The Flyers made 34 field goals in the game, a season high. 

UP NEXT
The Flyers will return to the Epicenter of College Basketball, UD Arena, on Tuesday, December 16, when they face Florida State. The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

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