Flyers punch Xavier in the mouth
My wife said it was the “greatest athletic event” she’s ever been to. I’ve been to better, but not many. The final: Dayton 90, Xavier 65.
Despite what UD head coach Brian Gregory said prior to the showdown Saturday with archrival Xavier, this was a must-win for the Flyers and they delivered. Big time.
In front of a raucous sellout crowd of 13,435 dressed in free white T-shirts and waving blue and red towels, Xavier finally threw theirs in after being beat down for 39 minutes. The final 60 seconds, the Musketeers wanted to be anywhere but on that floor at UD Arena. Too bad for them they were.
Dayton opened up a 17-3 lead to start the game and led by double-digits the last 32 minutes. It was Xavier’s worst loss of the season and knocked them out of first in the Atlantic 10. It was also just the Flyers second win in the last 10 games against Xavier.
But, in winning the 151st meeting between the schools, Dayton righted its ship and set sail. The disappointment of back-to-back losses and its 30-game home win streak snapped now gone, the Flyers mustered enough guts to climb back into Atlantic 10 title and NCAA Tournament talk.
And rightfully so.
No UD team in the last 20 years has entered the season with this much anticipation and expectation. The burden is heavy, but this team is good – and Saturday they showed it…at Xavier’s expense.
Here are five things we learned:
1. Chris Wright (17 points, nine rebounds, three blocks) was the Blackburn-McCafferty MVP, but…The award could have gone to any number of Flyers, including senior guards London Warren and Rob Lowery and senior center Kurt Huelsman. Did we mention Chris Johnson? Lowery had 16 points and five assists, while Warren supplied energy, seven points, four rebounds, three assists and two key steals. Johnson had 18 points, six rebounds and three assists. As for Huelsman…
2. No player impacts the crowd like Huelsman: His stat line wasn’t impressive (four points, two rebounds, a steal and a block) but his performance was. When Huelsman does something good you know it because people react. “Exciting” has never been a description of Huelsman, but “consistent” has. Lately he’s been consistently efficient.
3. UD’s Bigs dominated Xavier’s: Speaking of Huelsman – and Wright and Johnson – UD’s frontcourt players dominated Xavier’s. Dayton’s big guys outscored the Musketeers’ 41-23 and were a big reason UD held a 42-24 advantage in rebounds. Key to Dayton’s early success was getting two fouls each on Xavier starting senior Justin Love and reserve Kenny Frease in the first four minutes.
4. Jordan Crawford is good: Face it Flyer fans, this cat is good. He will be a thorn for at least another year. Conditioning did him in though. He still ended with a game-high 24 points.
5. Dayton faithful still hate Chris Mack: Wes Coffee’s face remembers and so do the UD fans. It will never be forgotten. Face it.
Coming Wednesday: Charlotte…another must-win – at the Arena.
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