Dayton improves to 16-0 all-time against Fordham at UD Arena

Dayton (13-7, 5-2) improved to 16-0 against Fordham at UD Arena. The Flyers avenged a 55-54 loss at Fordham last season.

Dayton shot a season-worst 31% percent in its last game and shot 46% in this game. Fordham shot 35.6% from the field but 38.7% (12 of 31) from 3-point range.

Malachi Smith added 13 points for Dayton. Toumani Camara had 11 points. R.J. Blakney scored eight.

Wayne grad Darius Quisenberry, the Atlantic 10 Conference’s leading scorer with 17.9 points per game, scored 17 points on 4-of-16 shooting.

Dayton led by as many as 14 points in the second half. Fordham got as close as six points in the final minute. The Flyers clinched the victory by making 5 of 6 free throws in the final 40 seconds.

Dayton began the day tied for third in the Atlantic 10 Conference behind Davidson (16-2, 6-0) and St. Bonaventure (11-4, 3-1). It’s now a half game ahead of Virginia Commonwealth (11-6, 4-2), which plays at Davidson on Wednesday.

Dayton plays Rhode Island (12-6, 3-3) at 7 p.m. Friday at UD Arena. Rhode Island lost 70-63 at home to Richmond (13-7, 4-3) on Tuesday.

HALFTIME RECAP

Blakney made two 3-pointers in the final 67 seconds of the first half to give the Dayton a 37-25 halftime lead.

Blakney and Smith each scored eight points in the half. Smith made all three of his field-goal attempts after scoring 12 points on 5-of-17 shooting Saturday in a 50-49 loss at George Mason.

Dayton built a 23-9 lead only to see Fordham rebounding from a slow start (2 of 15 from the field) with a 14-4 run. Dayton then outscored Fordham 10-2 in the final three minutes.

Quisenberry scored Fordham’s first six points. He finished the half with eight points on 2-of-10 shooting.

Dayton shot 50 percent (12 of 24) in the half but committed 11 turnovers. Fordham shot 32 percent (9 of 28) with six turnovers.