Dayton improves to 18-0 against Fordham at UD Arena

What it means: Dayton (10-4) started 1-0 in the A-10 for the fourth straight season. It has won six straight games in the series against Fordham, whose only win in Dayton came in the first game in the series in 1953 at the UD FieldHouse.

Dayton improved to 38-6 in the series. It has won 22 of the last 23 games.

Fordham (9-5) saw a three-game winning streak end. It beat Fairleigh Dickinson, Manhattan and New Haven in its last three games before the holiday break.

Star of the game: Jordan Derkack led Dayton with 15 points. He made 5 of 9 field goals and 5 of 5 free throws.

Stat of the game: Dayton forced 15 turnovers and outscored Fordham 18-4 in points off turnovers. The Flyers committed eight turnovers.

Key moment: Dayton led from start to finish and built a 13-point lead in the second half. Fordham rallied with a 9-0 run.

Fordham got as close as two points before Derkack pushed the lead back to five points on a 3-point play with 6 minutes, 56 seconds remaining.

Career game: Dayton forward Jaiun Simon scored a career-high 11 points. He made 4 of 7 shots and 3 of 6 free throws. His previous career high was seven points.

Looking ahead: Dayton plays at Loyola Chicago at 2 p.m. Saturday. Loyola (5-9 won 61-57 at Rhode Island (9-5) on Saturday. Dayton has lost at Loyola the last two seasons.

HALFTIME RECAP

Dayton led by as many as nine points in the first half and took a 30-24 lead into halftime.

Here’s a quick recap of the first half:

Key player: Simon led all scorers with eight points off the bench. He made 3 of 5 field goals and 2 of 2 free throws in just under 12 minutes of action.

Key stat: Dayton shot 42.9% (12 of 28) from the field, while Fordham shot 30% (9 of 30).

Problem area. Fordham grabbed 10 offensive rebounds on 21 missed shots.

Bounce-back effort: After being held scoreless in Dayton’s last game, a 64-61 loss to Liberty on Dec. 20, De’Shayne Montgomery scored six points on 3-of-5 shooting in the first half.

Big shot: Fordham had cut Dayton’s lead to one point with 7 minutes, 4 seconds to play when Javon Bennett converted a four-point play at the 5:42 mark.

Lineup news: With Amaël L’Etang sidelined by an injury, Jacob Conner moved back into the starting lineup. Conner started the first three games of the season.

Freshman forward Damon Friery made his fifth appearance of the season. He saw action in the first half for the first time, playing just under three minutes.

All nine available scholarship players saw action in the first half for Dayton.

Malcolm Thomas was also sidelined for this game. He wore a protective boot on his left foot. L’Etang used crutches to get around before the game.