Dayton improves to 5-1 with rout of North Carolina Central

What it means: Dayton (5-1) still has not lost a non-conference home game since losing three straight at UD Arena in November 2021.

Dayton improved to 20-1 against Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference programs. That includes a 91-82 victory against Bethune-Cookman in their previous home game on Nov. 15.

North Carolina Central (2-5) fell to 0-4 against Division I teams. It also has lost to North Carolina State, Virginia and Appalachian State.

Star of the game: De’Shayne Montgomery led Dayton with 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting.

Stat of the game: Dayton had seven turnovers after turning the ball over 25 times Wednesday in a 77-71 overtime victory at Marquette. North Carolina Central had 18 turnovers.

Biggest lead: Dayton led 67-32 with 8 minutes, 50 seconds to play. Dayton’s starters left the game soon after that point. The Eagles outscored Dayton 20-7 in the last 7½ minutes.

Looking ahead: Dayton plays Georgetown (5-0) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the first round of the ESPN Events Invitational in Orlando, Fla. The Hoyas beat Wagner 92-75 on Saturday.

HALFTIME RECAP

Dayton led by as many as 27 points in the first half and took a 44-20 lead into halftime.

Here’s a quick recap of the first half:

Key player: Montgomery led Dayton with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting.

Key stat: Dayton shot 53% (17 of 35) from the field. North Carolina Central shot 35% (8 of 23).

Big run: Dayton outscored North Carolina Central 20-2 from the 13:50 mark to the 7:44 mark, turning a 7-7 tie into a 27-9 lead.

Improved number: Dayton committed three turnovers in the half.

Bench contributions: Malcolm Thomas scored six points on 2-of-3 shooting in 10 minutes for Dayton in the half.

Jacob Conner made 2 of 3 3-pointers and scored six points in 11 minutes.