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The University of Dayton men's basketball team responded to its loss to Xavier last weekend with a dominant win over George Washington.

The Flyers delivered one of their best performances of the season and improved to 14-4 overall (3-1 Atlantic 10) in a 66-51 victory over the Colonials, who dropped to 11-6 (1-3).

"We challenged the guys a little bit to have a really positive response in terms of taking another step forward as a team," Head Coach Brian Gregory said. "I thought they did a great job."

A lackluster start to the game turned up quickly for the Flyers, who came out of the under-16 minute timeout in a zone defense. The switch was made because Dayton was going to be shorthanded without Luke Fabrizius or Paul Williams, and they responded very well.

"We took a major step forward," senior Marcus Johnson said. "We can't let losses get us down. It's a long A-10 season and that was just one game."

The switch befuddled the Colonials, known for their athleticism and length more than their three point shooting, as Dayton went on a 9-0 run to take the lead 14-6. They would never lose the lead after that point.

George Washington pulled back into the game with five quick points, but senior guard London Warren scored the next four points of the game to push UD's lead back out to seven. Warren and Chris Johnson would each finish the half with seven points to lead Dayton.

The zone continued to confuse GW, and Dayton's offense looked better as the half wore on. The Flyers' energy picked up and they showed great unselfishness with the ball, getting several easy layups or dunks in the latter minutes of the frame. They finished with nine assists on 12 field goals. They went into halftime up 38-26.

"You can't worry about yourself," Chris Wright said. "When you're driving to the hole and creating, you got guys to kick to."

The second half started extremely quickly for Dayton when Wright scored six points in the first 1:20, including a fantastic half court alley-oop from London Warren.

Wright would score another basket before Marcus Johnson decided to take over. Johnson scored on a 15-foot jumper and then a steal with a layup plus the foul at the other end. The duo combined for 13 points in the first three and a half minutes, and UD led 51-30. Johnson, after a rough start to the season, has been playing his best ball recently, and he attributes it to putting the time in.

"Just getting better every day," he said. "Getting up a lot of shots, mid-range and outside shots, working on shots off the dribble and catch-and-shoot shots."

George Washington was able to bring the lead back under 20 at 56-37, but Marcus Johnson scored another quick four points and Mickey Perry hit a three to extend the margin to 24 points.

The Dayton defense got sloppy for a stretch during the second half, and GW was able to take advantage and shrink the lead to 15 points at 63-48. Dayton committed a slew of fouls in the final five minutes which dramatically extended the game, but ultimately did not amount to anything.

UD was able to hold the ball for 30 seconds or so every possession and ended up taking the game by 15.

Wright was 4-5 from the field in the second half and finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds to lead Dayton. Marcus Johnson had 13 points for the Flyers, and Perry scored 11 in 16 minutes despite playing on a sore knee. Again Dayton won the battle on the glass, out rebounding GW 43-34.

"We got a lot of good basketball from a lot of guys," Gregory said.

Dayton's next conference test will take place Wednesday when they travel to Philadelphia to take on St. Joseph's, where a Brian Gregory team has never won.