DAVIDSON, N.C. (AP) – Freshman Peyton Aldridge had 22 points and senior Tyler Kalinoski added 21, and the sharp-shooting Davidson Wildcats knocked off No. 22 Dayton 77-60 on Tuesday night for their first win over a ranked opponent this season.
Davidson was 12 of 23 from 3-point range, helping to erase a 26-point loss to Richmond three days earlier.
Aldridge and Kalinoski were both 9 of 14 from the field and combined to shoot 7 of 9 from beyond the arc.
Oskar Michelsen had 11 points for the Wildcats (13-4, 4-2 Atlantic-10), who won despite playing without their second-leading scorer Jack Gibbs. The school announced before the game that Gibbs, who came in averaging 15.8 points per game, injured his knee and will be reevaluated on Wednesday.
Jordan Sibert and Kendall Pollard each had 23 points to pace Dayton (15-3, 5-1), which entered the regular season top 25 this week for the first time since Dec. 7, 2013.
Leading 47-39 midway through the second quarter, the Wildcats went on an 8-0 spurt to build a 16-point lead behind 3-pointers from Aldridge and Brian Sullivan and were never seriously challenged after that point.
Kalinoski finished off the Flyers when he buried a turnaround jumper in the lane to beat the shot clock and give Davidson a 14-point lead with 57 seconds left.
“That was about as good of 40 minutes that we have put together,” Davidson coach Bob McKillop said.
It was Davidson’s first win against a top 25 team since beating No. 12 Kansas on Dec. 19, 2011.
Dayton’s only led for 31 seconds, that coming at 7-4.
That is about when Davidson started to get hot from the field. Using their motion offense to get open looks against Dayton’s man-to-man defense, the Wildcats connected on 8 of 13 3-pointers in the first half to build a 45-33 lead at the break against a Flyers team known for its defense.
Kalinoski, who recently surpassed 1,000 points for his career, and Aldridge led the early surge, shooting 11 of 19 from the field for core 26 points.
Sibert single-handedly kept the Flyers in the game with 18 points in the first half on 7 of 10 shooting.
TIP-INS
Dayton: The Flyers had held 15 of its previous 17 opponents to under 70 points.
Davidson: Three of Davidson’s four losses this season have come against ranked teams – North Carolina, Virginia and VCU.
UP NEXT
Dayton: Hosts Richmond on Saturday night.
Davidson: At George Mason on Saturday night.