National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Dayton 78, St. Mary's 68
When: 4:00 PM ET, Sunday, December 8, 2019
Where: Talking Stick Resort Arena, Phoenix, Arizona
Officials: # John Higgins, # Bo Boroski, # Paul Scelz
Attendance: 3563

Jalen Crutcher scored 21 points and Obi Toppin added 16 to lead No. 19 Dayton to a 78-68 win over Saint Mary's on Sunday in the Air Force Reserve Jerry Colangelo Classic in Phoenix.

Crutcher scored 19 first-half points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field, including 5 of 6 from 3-point range. He cooled off in the second half and finished 7-for-13 from the field but also recorded six assists.

Trey Landers was clutch down the stretch for the Flyers (7-1) and finished with 15 points and eight rebounds.

Malik Fitts led the Gaels (9-2) with 21 points and eight rebounds before fouling out. Kristers Zoriks chipped in with 14 points and Jordan Ford finished with 11.

An early 10-0 run gave the Flyers a nine-point lead with Crutcher's 3-pointer making it 13-4. A layup by Matthias Tass pulled Saint Mary's within seven, but that would be as close as the Gaels would get the rest of the game.

A 3-pointer from Toppin from the left wing and a Crutcher layup pushed the Dayton advantage to 12. Three straight 3-pointers, two by Crutcher and one by Landers extended the Flyers' advantage to 35-18 with 4:48 left to go in the half.

Dayton took a 46-25 lead into intermission.

Saint Mary's came out in the second half and outscored Dayton 23-12 to trim the deficit to 58-48 on a 3-pointer by Fitts with 11:32 to go.

But Dayton answered with an 11-2 run to go back up by 69-50 on a Toppin dunk off a missed shot by Crutcher.

The Gaels had one last run and trailed just 72-63 with a little more than two minutes left in the game after Ford scored four straight points.

Zoriks' 3 after two free throws by Dayton's Landers made the score 74-66. Landers answered with a layup to ice the win for Dayton.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Dayton   St. Mary's
Jalen Crutcher 21 Scoring Malik Fitts 21
Jalen Crutcher 6 Assists Jordan Ford 3
Trey Landers 8 Rebounds Malik Fitts 8
Ibi Watson 4 Free Throws Made Malik Fitts 4
Ibi Watson 2 Steals Jordan Ford 2
Trey Landers 1 Blocks Dan Fotu 1
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Dayton 78 53.8 13-24 9-12 15 32 2 5 16
St. Mary's 68 45.1 7-16 15-19 6 22 1 7 12