Dayton Battles Back to Defeat WMU 77-69

Fresh off a win over the free-falling #2 UConn Huskies in the Maui Invitational, the Dayton Flyers returned home to host Western Michigan on Tuesday night, overcoming sluggish play and a halftime deficit to top the Broncos 77-69 to improve to 7-2. WMU falls to 3-5.
Dayton came into the contest with a 3-0 lifetime record against Western Michigan, the last victory coming in 2022 in a 64-47 triumph at UD Arena. The other two wins were in 2018 and 1972, also home games for the Flyers.  The Broncos arrived in the Gem City after winning at Youngstown State 73-62 on Nov. 27th, but the Flyers were their most difficult challenge thus far, at least until a Dec. 30th game at Michigan State.
Both teams started hot from the field to open the game, converting near the rim and from downtown to make the score 9-9 at the first media timeout.  Dayton had trouble defending WMU's dribble penetration, allowing easy bank shots that kept the score tight. UD also surrendered offensive rebounds and the cumulative effect of poor defense let WMU score 16 of their first 19 points in the paint. Dayton finally opened up a 25-19 lead on a pair of triples, but gave it up after consecutive Bronco trips resulted in...