High Flyer

DAYTON - Obi Toppin's five-dunk night in Dayton's 86-60 drubbing of St. Bonaventure Wednesday wasn't shocking.

But a two-handed flush by Ryan Mikesell may have shocked some people.

"(The rim) was only nine feet on that dunk," remarked Dayton head coach Anthony Grant as he passed Mikesell in the hallway on his way to the postgame press conference.

The dunk came late in the first half - during a 22-5 Dayton run that effectively put away the game. Mikesell ran down the floor in transition and made eye contact with guard Jalen Crutcher, who lobbed a perfect alley-oop pass into the hands of the St. Henry graduate.

"I keep telling people that I'm more athletic than I appear," Mikesell said.

And Dayton is as legit as it appears, too.

The No. 7 Flyers had another slam-dunk performance - improving to 17-2 overall and 6-0 in Atlantic-10 play. Dayton's national ranking is the highest it has been since 1967. The win puts Dayton alone atop the A-10 standings.

"It's been awesome," Mikesell said. "We're obviously having so much success. Our two losses were in overtime to two top-25 teams (Kansas and Colorado). That kind of proves we can play with anybody as long as we're right out there. It's been a lot of fun. Hopefully we can keep it going. The goal is not to really hit your stride until you get to March, so hopefully we can keep getting better and do that."

The Bonnies (12-7, 4-2 A-10) had entered the game having won 10 of 12 games. The Flyers had no issues with them - nada.

Toppin's first dunk capped a 6-0 Dayton run to start the game, forcing St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt to take a timeout with 17:41 remaining in the first half.

The game soon tightened up, though. For a few minutes anyway.

St. Bonaventure cut Dayton's lead to 25-24 with six minutes left in the half. Then the Flyers went on their 22-5 run. Mikesell finished the half by tipping out a missed free throw to Toppin, who drove in and sunk a floater as time expired to make the halftime score 47-29.

And the Dayton drubbing was on.

Crutcher (23 points) and Toppin (18) were the top offensive performers for Dayton, which led for 39 minutes, upped their advantage to 27 at one point and shot a sizzling 65% from the field.

Total attendance was 13,407 on Wednesday - some of whom made the trip from Mercer County. Mikesell said he's been receiving a wave of support from people back home. His high school coach, Eric Rosenbeck, and the St. Henry basketball team were in the building to witness Wednesday's game.

"People from back home have been great, whether it's St. Henry or Mercer County as a whole," Mikesell said. "I know my parents are always talking and telling me about what people are saying. Everyone's watching the Flyers right now. It's awesome. I hope to make them proud there."

In 32 minutes of action, Mikesell had 10 points, five rebounds, four assists, one block and one steal. It was his 74th start in 106 games as a Flyer. He scored in double digits for 34th time.

The dunk, though? He hasn't had too many of those in college. After throwing it down, Mikesell celebrated by raising the roof - a tribute to an episode of "The Office," when characters Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) did the same action. The dunk celebration was premeditated.

"I was talking to (older brother Andy Mikesell) and my little nephew, and my nephew is always asking me when I'm going to dunk, because I didn't get my first dunk until the 13th game into the season," he explained. "I told them if I'm going to dunk it, I'm going to need a celebration. That's what we came up with."

And Toppin, Mr. High Flyer himself, gave his approval.

"Did you see our reaction when they called a timeout after that," Toppin said. "It's Ryan. When he catches a dunk like that, it's amazing. Jalen threw a really good pass and he was just on target. When he jumped, it was just an amazing dunk. When Ryan got into the huddle, we showed him some love."