DAYTON,Ohio -- The University of Dayton used a strong second half to dispatch visiting Delaware State, 62-42 at UD Arena Wednesday night in a non-conference game. The win marked the 19th consecutive home victory against non-conference opponents for the Flyers, but more importantly it is UD Head Coach Brian Gregory's 100th career win (100-59). He registered win No. 100 just two games into his sixth season.

Flyer sophomore Chris Wright scored a game-high 18 points, with eight of those points coming on slam dunks, and also pulled down seven rebounds to pace the Dayton attack. He had a series of dunks late in the second half that gave the Flyers their largest lead of the evening, 56-31 - a 25-point margin.

Both dunks were on fast-breaks following steals by Wright. The first he took on his own and slammed a two-handed dunk with 4:48 to play. On the second, Wright notched another steal passed it forward to junior Mickey Perry who laid it off the glass for Wright to jam at the 4:15 mark.

The Flyers broke open the game in the opening minutes of the second stanza. The Dayton defense held Delaware State without a field goal for seven minutes into the second half. UD finished with 15 steals, led by junior Rob Lowery's four thefts, and forced 25 Delaware State turnovers. The 15 Flyer steals are just two off the UD school record of 17, set three times.

The Hornets finally got on the board at the 13-minute mark on a jumper by junior Fred Bouie to get within 37-23.

Freshman Chris Johnson provided the offensive fireworks early for the Flyers, popping two treys in less than a minute, banging home his second at the 12:01 mark to give UD a 43-23 lead.

The Flyers held a 28-21 lead at the half, thanks in part to their rebounding. Dayton owned the boards, pulling down 25 rebounds to Delaware State's 12 - including a 13-1 advantage on the offensive glass. That rebounding prowess led to UD scoring 14 second-chance points, while the Hornets had none.

The Hornets hung in the game by knocking down the trey. Wright scored six consecutive points for the Flyers to help them build a 21-11 lead with 5:49 to play in the first half. The sophomore slammed home two dunks come with 41 seconds of each other. He cranked one home at the 6:51 mark off the long rebound from fresman Luke Fabrizius and then again off a nifty pass from junior London Warren.

Delaware State's Donald Johnson stopped the Flyers' 13-7 run with a trifecta at the 5:24 mark.

Sophomore Stephen Thomas sparked the Flyers with back-to-back offensive rebounds late in the half, was fouled and sank both free throws to give Dayton a 25-19 lead.

Junior Marcus Johnson drained UD's only three-point field goal of the half with 43 seconds left in the stanza to give the Flyers their 28-21 lead after 20.

Wright had 12 of UD's 28 first-half points, and also nabbed five rebounds in 15 minutes of action in the opening 20.

Dayton shot 36.5 percent from the field (23-63), jumping from 31.3 percent (10-32) in the first half to 41.9 percent (13-31) in the second half. The biggest improvement came from downtown. The Flyers shot just 14.3 percent on three-point field goals in the first half, but drained 50 percent in the second half stanza (6-12).

Delaware State led emphatically in one category with seven blocks to Dayton's one.

The Flyers (2-0) host Bethune-Cookman this Sunday, Nov. 23 at 2 p.m. in the first game of the Chicago Invitational Challenge.