FAIRFAX, Va. — Obi Toppin had 19 points and seven rebounds as No. 4 Dayton survived a sluggish performance to beat George Mason 66-55 on Tuesday night and clinch at least a share of the Atlantic 10 regular-season title with three games to play.
Toppin, a redshirt sophomore and one of the leading candidates for National Player of the Year, scored 13 of his 19 points after halftime for the Flyers (26-2, 15-0 Atlantic 10), who own the country’s longest winning streak at 17 games.
Jalen Crutcher had 13 points as Dayton finished shooting 50% from the field.
AJ Wilson led George Mason (15-13, 4-11) with 18 points. Jordan Miller added 13 points and 10 rebounds, his first double-double of the season.
Dayton — the highest ranked team to ever play at George Mason — led for the entire first half but wasn’t able to shake George Mason. The Flyers led 30-25 at the break.
Mason scored the first five points of the second half and eventually took their its first lead of the game at 34-32 on Wilson’s jumper with 15:10 left.
Back-and-forth play followed until Dayton went on an 8-0 run to go up 49-41 with just under eight minutes remaining. Toppin had four points during that spurt, including a thunderous baseline dunk.
Mason cut it to 59-57 on Xavier Johnson’s layup with 1:18 left, but Dayton answered right back with a floater from Ibi Watson to give the Flyers a four-point lead.
Xavier 78, DePaul 67
CINCINNATI — Naji Marshall scored 23 points Tuesday night and Xavier recovered from its worst offensive game of the season by hitting 3s and pulling away to a 78-67 victory over DePaul.
Xavier (18-10, 7-8 Big East) was coming off a 64-55 loss to No. 12 Villanova, the fewest points the Musketeers had scored in a game at the Cintas Center since 2012-13.
Romero Weems scored 16 points for DePaul (14-14, 2-13), and Paul Reed had 14 points and 16 rebounds. The Blue Demons dominated the boards 40-25 but had 22 turnovers.
Women
No. 14 Northwestern 69,
Ohio State 55
COLUMBUS— Abi Scheid scored 19 points with five 3-pointers, Lindsey Pulliam added 16 points and Northwestern beat Ohio State to remain in first place in the Big Ten Conference.
Northwestern (25-3, 15-2) tied a program record for wins in a season with the 1978-79 team by winning at Ohio State (17-11, 10-7) for the first time since 2011. The Wildcats are 2-15 at Value City Arena.
Dorka Juhasz led Ohio State with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Jacy Sheldon and Rebeka Mikulasikova each scored 12 points. The Buckeyes have lost two straight since a six-game winning streak.
Sydney Wood had 12 points and nine rebounds for Northwestern. Pulliam banked in a running 3-pointer just before the third-quarter buzzer to give Northwestern a 56-45 lead.
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