Obi Toppin scored a game-high 20 points Wednesday night as No. 3 Dayton moved within a game of a perfect run through the Atlantic 10 Conference with an 84-57 drilling of Rhode Island in Kingston, R.I.

Jalen Crutcher added 17 points and five assists for the 28-2 Flyers, who only need a home win Saturday night against 12-18 George Washington to finish 18-0 in the conference. Trey Landers chipped in a 14-point, 14-rebound double-double.

Jeff Dowtin scored 16 points to pace the Rams (20-9, 12-5), who lost for the fourth time in six games and missed their best chance to enhance their flagging hopes for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Leading scorer Fatts Russell hit just 2 of 13 shots and finished with nine points, 10 under his average.

Dayton entered the night as the nation's top-shooting team in field-goal percentage and made 46.8 percent, about 6 percentage points under its norm. But the Flyers clamped down on Rhode Island, limiting it to 17-of-59 shooting from the field, 28.8 percent.

There were three ties before the first TV timeout, but a layup by Rodney Chatman at the 15:26 mark put Dayton ahead to stay. That started an 11-2 burst that Landers ended with a three-point play to make it 18-9 with 12:43 left.

Jordy Tshimanga's layup gave the Flyers their first double-figure lead at 25-14 with 9:16 remaining. After Russell's two foul shots pulled the Rams within 25-20, Dayton gradually pulled away in the last seven minutes of the half. The Flyers finished the period with a 21-10 run, Crutcher and Toppin combining for 14 points, to take a 46-30 advantage to intermission.

Toppin dunked off a Landers pass to up the Flyers' lead to 63-42 with 10:18 left in the game, and the margin reached as high as 29 points in the final minutes.

The teams combined for four technicals, 42 personal fouls and 56 free-throw attempts in an occasionally contentious game. Rhode Island was a dreadful 17 of 35 at the foul line.

--Field Level Media