The Dayton Flyers travelled to Normal, IL to play Illinois State in the Second Round of the NIT and came up with 55-48 victory over the Redbirds. UD got an extra boost by the return of Chris Wright who scored nine points and grabbed three rebounds in 10 minutes of action off the bench. Brian Roberts led all scorers with 16 points. Dayton improves to 23-10 overall and will play Ohio State in the quarterfinals of the NIT on Wednesday night. It marks the 14th time in school history that Dayton advances to the quarterfinals of the National Invitational Tournament.

The game was tied 28-28 at halftime and Illinois State took a 32-28 lead after a field goal by Anthony Slack with 17:04 left to play. Dayton went on a 17-0 run over a 10 minute stretch to take a 45-32 advantage with 7:54 to go. The Redbirds sliced it to 51-47 but could not get any closer as they end the season at 25-10. They were led by Dinma Odiakosa's 14 points.

Illinois State jumped out to a 3-0 lead on a three-pointer by Osiris Elridge and Marcus Johnson scored Dayton's first four points. Dinma Odiakosa's layup reclaimed the lead for Redbirds, 5-4 but Roberts hit a three to UD a 7-5 lead.

B-Rob knocked down his second three with 10:27 left in the first half to give the Flyers a 14-9 advantage. Wright made his presence known with a block on Brandon Sampay. Illinois State went on a 10-2 run to take control, started by a back-to-back layups by Odiakosa. Boo Richardson stole the ball from Roberts and got it to Slack for a dunk to give the Redbirds a 15-14 lead. Following a jumper by Jimmy Binnie, Illinois State took the lead back on a layup Emmanuel Holloway and Odiakosa scored to put the Redbirds up, 19-16 with 7:20 left until halftime.

Binnie tied the game at 21-21 with a three-pointer with just over four minutes remaining in the half. Richardson responded with a three, following a steal by Holloway to put Illinois State ahead, 24-21. With 1:52 left in the first half, Binnie knocked down another jumper to cut the deficit to one. Wright made two free throws for his first points since January 9th to put Dayton back on top, 25-24 with 1:27 until halftime. Illinois State got layups by Sampay and Richardson to go up, 28-25 but Roberts hit his third trey of the first half to tie the game 28-28 at halftime.

The second half began with Dayton missing their first four shots and Illinois State getting baskets by Odiakosa and Slack to take a 32-28 lead with 17:04 to play.

London Warren stole from Odiakosa and was fouled by Elridge with 15:31 left. Warren made one of two foul shots to slice into the Redbird lead, 32-29. Warren got the Flyers to within one, 32-31, moments later with a layup and after a series of missed shots by both teams, Roberts knocked down his fourth three of the game to put Dayton ahead for good, 34-32.

UD continued its run as Wright followed a missed shot by Binnie with a layup and they led, 36-32. Huelsman followed with a jumper and Wright added two foul shots go give the Flyers a 40-32 advantage with just over 10 minutes left to play.

Warren made a free throw to up the lead to nine, 41-32. Huelsman added another jumper and Little ended a 17-0 run with a slam to give Dayton a 45-32 lead with 7:54 left in the game.

At the 6:28 mark, Odiakosa's layup ended a scoreless streak of over 10 minutes to cut the Flyer lead to 45-34. Illinois State had three chances to slice into the lead but Elridge missed a jumper and Odiakosa failed to make a jumper and tip-in as UD maintained an 11-point lead. Roberts made two foul shots to increase the lead to 47-34. Odiakosa and Wright exchanged baskets as Dayton still led by 13, 49-36 with 4:18 to go.

The Redbirds made one last push to get back in it. Dom Johnson made a layup to cut the UD lead to 49-38. Following a Marcus Johnson turnover, Eldridge's layup got Illinois to within nine points, 49-40. Roberts missed a jumper and Holloway scored on the other as the Flyers lead was trimmed to seven, 49-42 with 2:19 remaining.

Illinois State used pressure to hound Dayton causing a Roberts turnover and Elridge took advantage with a jumper to get the Redbirds within five, 49-44. B-Rob got fouled with 1:29 to play and made both free throws to extend Dayton's lead to 51-44.

Levi Dyer missed a trey for Illinois State but Warren failed to convert the front end of a one-and-one from the foul line to keep the Redbirds alive. Elridge buried a three-pointer with 58 seconds left and Dayton led 51-47. Wright got fouled with 50 seconds to play and made one of two free throws to increase the Flyer lead to 52-47. Elridge had a chance to get Illinois closer but a missed a three. Marcus Johnson iced the game for the Flyers by making three of four free throws.

B-Rob scored 16 points on 4-12 shooting, all makes were three-pointers. He also made all four of his free throws. In his first game in over two months, Chris Wright played 10 minutes, scored nine points, got three boards and had two blocks. Jimmy Binnie and Marcus Johnson each scored seven points. Dayton shot 43% from the floor and went 16-23 from foul line.

Dimna Odiakosa led Illinois with 14 points, making 7-9 shots. Osiris Elridge struggled from the floor, scoring 10 points, making 4-20 shots, including 2-9 three-pointers. Anthony Slack added seven pints and grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds. The Redbirds struggled from the field, making 34% of their shots (including 27% in the second half) and made 3-10 free throws. Illinois suffered their second home loss of the season and fell for the first time when an opponent scored less than 60 points in a game.

Dayton will play at Ohio State in Columbus on Wednesday night. It's the first time these two teams have met since 1988. The Bud Light Pre-Game show begins at 8:30 pm; tip-off is at 9 pm. Join Larry Hansgen and Bucky Bockhorn for all the action here on the home of the Flyers, AM 1290 and 95.7 FM, NewsTalk Radio WHIO.