FN Sports Team
The Johnson's cooled down, but Dayton survived George Washington in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament to extend its season.
The Flyers won and advanced to play in Atlantic City with a 70-60 win. Marcus and Chris Johnson, who combined for 21 points in the first half, mustered up only six in the second half. Dayton gotenough from the rest of the team however and won a game that was closer than the final score indicated.
UD jumped all over the Colonials to start the half, going on a 7-0 run capped by a thunderous drive and dunk from Chris Wright.
The Colonials came right back, however, and scored the next eight points, forcing a Dayton timeout with their lead reduced to just three at 45-42 and 13:50 remaining.
The Flyers then got some help from the Colonial bench, as head coach Karl Hobbs was given a technical foul, GW\'s second of the game. Rob Lowery knocked down both free throws and Dayton led by 6.
George Washington continued to respond to Dayton and would not allow the Flyers to pull away. They were able to pull even at 53 when Damian Hollis grabbed an offensive rebound and layed it in.
Dayton reclaimed the lead but was couldn\'t extend it until Marcus Johnson\'s layup made it a seven point game as the clock ran under two minutes.
The Flyers will now move on to play second seeded Xavier in the A-10 Tournament quarterfinals.
With everything on the line, Dayton came out shaky. They have recovered nicely however.
The Flyers have been paced by a strong offensive attack from the Johnsons, who combined for 21 of Dayton's 37 first half points.
It was a slow start for Dayton, which surrendered a 13-4 lead to George Washington in the game's opening minutes.
The Flyers battled back however and took the lead, with much thanks to Chris Johnson and Rob Lowery's shooting. The two combined to go 5-7 from the three point line in the first half.
Marcus Johnson added 10 points in the first frame as well, as Dayton's advantage stretched to as many as eight points.
GW's Damian Hollis scored 11 for the colonials, including a putback as time expired to bring the score to within four.
By Nate Waggenspack
Despite Dayton's best efforts, St. Louis was just too hot.
The Billikens spoiled the Flyers' senior night with a 71-66 win. They used an 18-0 run in the first half, accompanied by a 12-minute scoring drought from Dayton, to secure the victory.
After falling behind early Dayton was never quite able to come back, as SLU led from the 11:48 mark of the first half on.
Despite the large deficit, Dayton came out in the second half and Kurt Huelsman scored in the first 15 seconds to end the field goal drought at 12:22. The Flyers went on a 10-0 run from the end of the first half and beginning of the second to make things interesting.
UD pulled within seven points three times, but were not able to get closer than that until London Warren's runner went in off the glass to make the score 58-53 with 3:02 to play. Chris Johnson followed that up with a three, his first points of the game, to pull Dayton within two.
St. Louis had the answer however, on a layup by Kwamain Mitchell that was partially blocked by London Warren, and then a three by Christian Salecich.
The Billikens built their lead by hitting seven of their first eight three-point attempts. They would finsih 12-24 from beyond the arc for the game.
Dayton, meanwhile, was anemic shooting the ball, going just 7-25 from the field, and not scoring a field goal for the final 12:07 of the first half. For the first time this season, the Flyers were booed off the court when the halftime buzzer sounded.
Chris Wright scored 15 points to lead Dayton, while Kurt Huelsman scored 13 and grabbed seven rebounds.
By Nate Waggenspack
Dayton supplemented its sleeping offense with a some suffocating play defensively en route to a 59-35 win over Ball State Tuesday, Jan. 5th.
The Flyers struggled to score most of the game against the Cardinals, but Ball States struggles were much more significant, as they shot just 28 percent from the field.
Dayton held Ball State scoreless for and eight minute stretch in the first half and the first four minutes of the second half.
While Dayton's field goal percentage (45.1) looked better than the Cardinals', it was a deceiving statistic. The Flyers got most of their scoring from within 12 feet of the basket
UD also struggled to score for awhile in the first half and Ball State was able to pull within four at 15-11. Chris Wright then got aggressive, scoring 10 points in the final eight minutes of the half to give Dayton a 30-17 advantage.
The second half started slowly, and the game stayed ugly. Neither team looked particularly focused, managing five points each in the first seven minutes of the half.
The rim continued to stay locked on both ends for the rest of the half. Ball State never got much closer and Dayton never pulled away.
Paul Williams was the only Flyer really feeling it from outside, as he hit two threes in the second half for his six points.
Chris Wright led Dayton in scoring with 10 points, all in the first half.
Dayton got the defensive effort it was looking for to wrap up its play outside of the conference. Now it will be up to the Flyers to find the offense that played against Creighton and Towson when they match up with the A-10.
By Nate Waggenspack
Rob Lowery scored a career high 23 points, Chris Wright added 19 and Dayton survived more excellent 3-point shooting and a 2nd half rally by Boston University to win 74-60.
It was a breakout performance for the senior guard, his first big game since being injured last season, and it came when Dayton needed it badly. Lowery went 7-9 from three-point land, while the rest of the Flyers shot a measly 2-14 from downtown.
The game looked like it would be a boring one for the sellout crowd at UD Arena in the first few minutes. Dayton opened the game on a 17-2 spurt, and BU looked out of sorts.
The dominance did not last long, though, as BU used some streaky 3-point shooting to bring themselves within striking distance, as they brought it to 27-19 with 6:34 to play in the half.
Lowery then took over for Dayton in the first half, hitting consecutive threes to keep UD up 33-23.
He saved his best for last however. On the final play of the half, Lowery almost ran away from the inbounds pass and surrendered a turnover. He recovered, however, and then hit a prayer from 35 feet to give Dayton a 41-29 lead going into the intermission.
In the second half Boston made it close instantly, hitting two threes in the first 45 seconds to pull within six.
Lowery then made his next best play of the game. On defense he swatted the ball away, dove for it, and then danced around under the legs of a BU guard before finally passing the ball off, then got the ball back and hit another three.
Boston continued to stroke well from behind the line, however, and stayed in the game. At one point Jake O'brien hit a three to make it 54-50, the closest BU had been since 6-2 in the first half.
Wright then took over, scoring six consecutive points to stretch the lead back out to double digits. The run was capped by a long alley-oop pass from London Warren that brought the house down with 11:24 left.
From that point on, BU was unable to close the gap. For every basket or small run the terriers were able to put together, UD seemed to have an answer.
The highlight of the final few minutes came when London Warren stepped into a passing lane and knocked the ball toward the sideline. In hustling to try and get the ball, London stepped on the scorers table and then jumped to avoid from falling straight down, over the railing and into the arms of fans in the first and second rows.
Dayton was able to hit free throws when the terriers began to foul with about 1:10 to play, and there was no miracle comeback in store.
Wright finished with 17 points and 7 rebounds. Chris Johnson does not appear to have lost much due to his injury, as he added 12 points on a perfect shooting night, four for four from the field and three for three from the foul line.
London Warren did not take a shot, but continues to impress from the point guard position. Warren had nine assists and just one turnover.
Dayton faces its final big test of the non-conference season when it travels to New Mexico to take on the Lobos New Years Day.
