Riley Allenspach Scores 20 as Cincinnati Hits Eight First-Half 3s and Routs Dayton 95-72

The Flyers had four days to stew on giving up 99 points to Siena. Then Cincinnati walked into UD Arena on Saturday and made 8 of its first 13 threes. By halftime, the rivalry game was mostly a formality, and the Bearcats rolled to a 95-72 win over Dayton that only briefly felt like a game after halftime.

Riley Allenspach led Cincinnati with 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting, doing most of the damage in the paint and around the rim. Tyler Tejada added 16 points, nine rebounds and three assists, and Tejada's 4-of-6 night from deep set the tone in a first half the Bearcats closed on top 52-34. MJ Collins Jr. and Elijah Perryman scored 12 apiece, and Perryman needed only five shots to get there.

Amaël L'Etang was the best Flyer on the floor again, scoring 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting with seven rebounds, three blocks and a perfect 5-of-5 night at the line. Tristian Ford had 15 points and four steals but needed 14 shots to get them, and freshman Aiden Derkack finished with 10 points and three assists. Cincinnati improves to 3-1. Dayton falls to 1-3 and has now lost three straight since its opening-night rout of NJIT.

Eight Threes Before the Break

Cincinnati came out firing. Allenspach opened the scoring inside off a Myles Colvin feed, and then the Bearcats went shopping from the perimeter. Perryman hit a three at 18:23. Tejada hit one at 17:17. Colvin hit one at 16:43, and Perryman buried another at 15:43 for a 14-4 lead before the game was five minutes old. Malcolm Thomas was the only Flyer scoring early, with two free throws and a layup.

The bench kept the pressure on. Amani Lyles scored on a layup and a dunk, Adlan Elamin hit a three off an Eric Mahaffey assist, and Akai Fleming threw down a dunk from Lyles at 12:49. Then came the moment that summed up Dayton's half: Derkack was hit with a technical foul at 12:24, and Collins went to the line to make it 24-9. That was a 15-point hole with more than 12 minutes left before the break.

Dayton did find some answers. Grant Randall hit a three from Travis Perry, got fouled by Elamin on the shot and made the free throw for a four-point play at 11:08 that cut it to 24-15. L'Etang finished an and-one at 9:59, Randall dunked off a L'Etang pass, and L'Etang and Thomas each scored again inside. But every time the Flyers cut into the lead, Cincinnati had a reply. Allenspach scored three times in a span of about two minutes, finishing with an and-one at 7:49, and Tejada hit threes at 8:42 and 7:00 to push the lead to 39-24.

Perryman made two free throws at 2:36 for a 47-29 lead, the Bearcats' biggest of the half at 18. Ford hit a three to answer, and Derkack scored late, but Tejada's fourth three of the half, off a Collins assist with 35 seconds left, made it 52-34 at the break. Cincinnati shot 20 of 31 from the field in the first half, 64.5 percent, and was 8 of 13 from deep. Dayton was not bad on offense at 13 of 25. The Flyers simply could not keep up.

The Flyers Make a Run

For a stretch early in the second half, UD Arena had a pulse. L'Etang opened the half with a three from Derkack, then hit another from Derkack at 17:43 to cut the gap to 54-42. Ford made two free throws, Derkack picked off a Tylen Riley pass, and after a scramble on the offensive glass Derkack scored on a putback, and the Flyers were within 57-46.

Dayton's defense was finally creating chaos. Ford and Derkack each came up with steals during the run, and Ford finished with four on the night. After Derkack's second steal of Riley led to two free throws at 13:01, Julian Washington came off the bench and hit a three from Derkack at 12:30. That made it 61-53. From the 52-34 halftime score, Dayton had outscored Cincinnati 19-9 in under eight minutes, and the eight-point gap was the closest the game had been since the opening minutes.

The Turning Point

The Bearcats responded the way good road teams do, by getting to the line and getting to the rim. Elamin drew a shooting foul on Thomas and made both free throws at 12:16. Mahaffey stripped Landen Joseph, and Allenspach finished it with a dunk off an Elamin assist at 11:48. Fleming followed with a three-point play at 11:28, and just like that it was 68-53.

Ford kept the Flyers in it for a few more minutes, making four straight free throws and picking off two more passes. L'Etang made two at the line at 8:44 to make it 73-61. The Flyers never got closer than 12 again.

What followed was a 15-2 Cincinnati run that ended the night. Riley made a free throw. Tejada grabbed an offensive rebound and made two more. Riley hit a jumper. Collins stole the ball from Joseph and made a free throw, Riley stole the ball from Washington and made another, and Collins scored on a putback. Allenspach scored on a Tejada assist, Collins scored off a Mahaffey steal, and Riley picked L'Etang's pocket and dunked it at 4:49. Cincinnati led 88-63, its biggest lead of the night at 25.

Riley played a big part in that stretch, finishing with nine points, two steals and two assists off the bench, even with three turnovers. Dayton managed one field goal, a Ford layup, from the L'Etang free throws at 8:44 until Damon Friery's three with 1:45 left.

Numbers That Explain It

Start with efficiency. Cincinnati shot 36 of 63 from the field, 57.1 percent, and made 10 of 22 threes. The Bearcats assisted on 21 of their 36 baskets, with Perryman, Lyles, Mahaffey, Tejada and Colvin each handing out at least three. They won the glass 33-24, and their bench outscored Dayton's 32-16.

Dayton shot 22 of 52, 42.3 percent, and went 6 of 23 from three. That is the theme of this young season for the Flyers. They were 2 of 17 from deep in the overtime loss to Northern Illinois, and they were 6 of 23 again here. Ford went 1 of 7 from three, Joseph went 0 of 3 and finished with four points on 1-of-4 shooting.

The Flyers did a few things well. They made 22 of 29 free throws, they blocked eight shots, with Cody Peck swatting four off the bench, and they forced 12 turnovers with eight steals. But Cincinnati's shot quality was simply better all night. The Bearcats lived in the lane in the second half after doing their damage from outside in the first, going 16 of 32 after the break while making only two threes.

Cincinnati was whistled for 23 fouls, and Dayton turned that into 29 free throw attempts, but no Bearcat fouled out. Randall picked up five fouls for Dayton.

What It Means

For Cincinnati, this is a clean road win in one of the best environments in the country, and a second straight win in the series after the Bearcats beat Dayton 74-62 at Fifth Third Arena (opens in a new tab) last November. Allenspach looked like a reliable interior scorer, Tejada stretched the floor from the forward spot, and the depth was real. Eleven Bearcats scored, and seven of them had at least six points.

For Dayton, the alarm is getting louder. The Flyers opened with an 89-58 win over NJIT in front of a packed house, and since then they have lost to Northern Illinois in overtime, to Siena 99-89 and now to Cincinnati by 23. The last two opponents have scored 99 and 95. That is a defensive problem, not just a shooting one.

There are pieces. L'Etang has been steady and efficient, and the 19-point, three-block line Saturday was the kind of game the Flyers need every night. Derkack keeps making plays as a freshman, with three assists and two steals Saturday despite the early technical. But the guards have to start making shots, and the defense has to stop giving up runs in bunches. Three straight losses in November will not define the season, but March resumes get built in November, and this stretch is already costing the Flyers.

The Take

Cincinnati came to Dayton, made the shots that mattered early and answered the only real push with a 15-2 knockout. The Bearcats look like a team with options. The Flyers look like a team still searching for one.

For full stats, see the CBS Sports box score (opens in a new tab) and play-by-play (opens in a new tab).

Sources: CBS Sports box score and play-by-play, Cincinnati Athletics (2025 series result). More men's college basketball coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: University of Dayton Athletics (file photo).