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An impressive looking Dayton team rocked the Central Michigan Chippewas in Dayton on Saturday night by a score of 84-58. Chris Fowler, who came into the contest leading Central Michigan in points per game, came up big with 20 points and five assits, but it was not enough as they fell big.
Several Dayton players stepped up to out-gun the Chippewas, with five Flyers' players scoring in double figures and one finishing with nine. Devin Oliver and Dyshawn Pierre led the way for the Flyers with 15 each.
Dayton jumped put to an early lead, and led for the entirety of the first half, going up 38-24 at the half. The Flyers never trailed throughout the contest.
Central Michigan committed eight turnovers in the first half, fouled Dayton 12 times, and went 1-9 from three.
Coach Keno Davis's team struggled to find a rhythm offensively and only assisted on five of their baskets on the night, each coming from Fowler. Struggling from behind the arc all night, the Chippewas went 3-22 from 3-point land.
Dayton extended their lead to 57-39 with 14:21 left on a Devin Oliver 3-pointer, as the 18-point lead was the biggest Coach Archie Miller's squad held in the contest at that point.
CMU narrowed the lead to 10 over five minutes later when Fowler knocked down two free throws, but Dayton on cue responded once more with Vee Sanford hitting a jumper to go back up 12. It took CMU two more minutes to score and at that point Dayton held a 16-point advantage.
Sprinting all the way to the finish, Dayton extended the lead to 26 with 1:09 left in the contest.
It was a rough game that was called tightly, with 41 fouls combined between the two teams. Dayton took advantage of more opportunities from the free throw line, converting on 23-31 compared to CMU's 11-18. The Chippewas were also out-rebounded by a margin of 42-27 Saturday night.
The six-win, four-loss Chippewas have a chance to improve their record when they travel to Jacksonville State on Tuesday, Dec. 17th for an 8:45 p.m. matchup with the Gamecocks.