George Washington Colonials vs Dayton Flyers Match Player Stats On Mar 07, 2020

Obi Toppin and Jalen Crutcher scored every point in a game-breaking 16-0 second-half outburst Saturday night as No. 3 Dayton polished off an 18-0 run through the Atlantic 10 Conference with a 76-51 win over George Washington at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio.

Toppin finished with a game-high 27 points and Crutcher added 21 for the Flyers (29-2), whose bid for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament was bolstered by Utah State's upset of No. 5 San Diego State in the Mountain West Conference Tournament championship game earlier in the day.

Jamison Battle scored 16 points for the Colonials (12-19, 6-12), which bottled up the nation's best-shooting team for a half and led early in the second half before Dayton pushed the figurative X button.

With the score tied at 37 after George Washington's Armel Potter drove for a layup with 13:57 remaining, Toppin jammed off a Crutcher assist with 13:36 left to put the Flyers ahead for good. Crutcher then tallied 10 consecutive points, alternating driving layups with 3-pointers.

Toppin finished off the spurt with back-to-back dunks, making it 53-37 Dayton with 8:41 on the clock and igniting a sellout crowd. Toppin tacked on a between-the-legs dunk later as the Flyers pushed the lead as high as 28.

After converting only 37.5 percent of its shots in the first half, Dayton heated up to finish at 54.9 percent for the game, going 19 of 27 in the second half. That included an 8-of-11 showing from the 3-point line for an effective field goal percentage better than 85 percent.

The first half was more suspenseful than most expected as George Washington never let the Flyers lead by more than four points, and actually ripped off 11 unanswered points to grab a 19-12 advantage when Potter hit a short jumper with 9:26 left.

But the Flyers responded with a 14-3 burst to regain a 26-22 cushion, capped by two Toppin free throws with 3:30 remaining, and held on to lead 26-25 at intermission.

--Field Level Media