March 13, 2008

Box Score

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - A career-high 26 points from sophomore Marcus Johnson wasn't enough as the Dayton Flyers fell 74-65 to the Xavier Musketeers in the quarterfinals of the 2008 Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Tournament.

Johnson finished the game with four rebounds, converted a career-high 13 free throws, made 3-of-4 three-point attempts and shot 5-of-8 from the floor.

Senior Brian Roberts added 13 points, five rebounds and three assists while senior Jimmy Binnie chipped in with seven points as UD drops to 21-10 overall.

Dayton was out-rebounded 37 to 25 and committed 13 turnovers. The Flyers shot 42 percent from the field and only 6-of-19 from three-point range.

Trailing 35-29 at halftime, Dayton roared out of the gate on an 11-6 run to cut the XU lead to 41-38. Dayton kept clawing back and tied the game at 41-41 off a Binnie three pointer. Roberts would give UD its first second half at 43-41 with 14:07 to play lead with a fade away jumper. Sophomore Kurt Huelsman added a free throw to make it 44-41.

That would be the farthest UD would get as both teams would trade buckets for the next two minutes. Xavier took the lead for good after going on a 10-0 run to take a 54-46 advantage with 10 minutes to play.

Down 58-50, the Flyers started to catch a bit of a break when two Xavier regulars got into foul trouble. That allowed Dayton to claw back to make it a 58-52 contest with six minutes to play.

However, Xavier would take advantage of four missed Flyer free throws in a two-minute span to take a 63-53 lead with less than four minutes to go.

A Charles Little basket cut the Musketeer lead back to nine, but it wouldn't last long as Xavier added another offensive rebound and putback to lead 66-55 with 2:31 to play.

Dayton would again cut the deficit to six at 69-63 after a lay-up by sophomore Mickey Perry with 34 seconds to go. Xavier would the free throws down the stretch and hang on for the win.

Although Dayton was in foul trouble for most of the first half, the Flyers shot 40 percent from the floor and had five steals. Xavier on the other hand hit 46 percent of its three-point field goals and forced nine Flyer miscues.

Dayton sprung out to a 10-4 lead to start the game but Xavier evened the score and went on a 13-0 run to take a 25-17 advantage. The Flyers cut the lead to four but the Musketeers answered with another run, this time a 7-0 streak to go up 32-21 with 3:57 to play in the first half.

But the Flyers rallied and cut the deficit to 35-29 at halftime. Johnson led UD with 13 points while Roberts tallied eight.

Other contributors for the Flyers included sophomore London Warren with four points, three rebounds, three assists and a steal and Little finished with five points and three rebounds.

Dayton awaits their postseason fate after winning four of its last five to finish the 2007-08 campaign. UD finishes the year with key victories of Pittsburgh, Louisville and Saint Joseph's and an RPI rating in the Top 50.

NOTES
Dayton drops its sixth straight to the Musketeers. That's the longest losing streak in the rivalry since UD lost nine in a row to Xavier from March 2, 1991 to Dec. 14, 1994...UD is also 0-3 all-time against Xavier in the Atlantic 10 Tournament and were eliminated by the Musketeers for the second season in a row...Dayton drops to 14-12 all-time in the Atlantic 10 Tournament and has lost three consecutive quarterfinal meetings...Johnson scored in double figures for the fourth time in the month of March...Roberts eclipsed the 1,900 point plateau and hit a three-pointer in his 55th consecutive contest...speaking of Roberts, he reached double-figures in points for the 26th time this season...Perry had more points in the Atlantic 10 Tournament (17) than he did in the final five games of the regular season (12)...the Flyers have at least one block in its last 11 games.