Dayton 82, Rhode Island 70

PROVIDENCE, R.I., Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Ramod Marshall hit three straight three-pointers during a 71-second span in an 11-0 run early in the second half Wednesday night as 25th-ranked Dayton pulled away for an 82-70 Atlantic-10 Conference win over Rhode Island.

The Flyers (20-5, 12-2 A-10 West) reached 20 victories for the fourth straight season, their best run of success since five straight 20-win campaigns from 1965-69.

Coming off a 73-72 setback to Xavier that dropped it out of first place, Dayton got off to sluggish start, falling behind by nine points with 9:21 left in the first half.

The Flyers came alive midway through the first half and used a late 10-0 spurt to open a 39-28 lead on Mark Jones' three-pointer before settling for a 39-30 edge at the intermission.

In a game of runs, Rhode Island (15-10, 7-7 East) scored the first 11 points of the second half, grabbing a 41-39 lead on Brian Woodward's two foul shots with 16:41 remaining.

But Dayton tied it on Jones' jumper before Marshall took over. His third three-pointer made it 50-41 with 15:20 to go. Marshall finished with 17 points, becoming the 25th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points.

After the Rams closed to within 50-46, Brooks Hall scored eight straight, hitting a pair of three-pointers and two foul shots to extend the Flyers' advantage to 58-46. Hall scored 20 points for Dayton, which led by as many as 15 in the second half.

Woodward scored 18 points and Lazare Adingono added 17 for the Rams, who suffered their fourth straight loss.