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Marcus Johnson had 13 points, Chris Wright and Mickey Perry 11 each and Chris Johnson 10 to lead Dayton to a 71-61 exhibition win over Division II Northern Kentucky tonight.
The Flyers took a seven-point lead at halftime and were never threatened. They open the regular-season against Creighton at home at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Marcus Johnson had 13 points, Chris Wright and Mickey Perry 11 each and Chris Johnson 10 to lead Dayton to a 71-61 exhibition win over Division II Northern Kentucky tonight.
The Flyers took a seven-point lead at halftime and were never threatened. They open the regular-season against Creighton at home at 1 p.m. Saturday.
The Dayton-Creighton season-opener on Saturday has been labeled by The Sporting News’ Mike DeCourcy as the best game of college basketball’s opening weekend.
But the visiting Blue Jays were dealt a blow Sunday afternoon when team leader Justin Carter suffered a knee injury in an exhibition win. The extent of the injury is still unknown, but Carter left the arena on crutches and told the local newspaper that trainers were concerned about his MCL.
If Carter can’t play against the Flyers, the Jays will be missing their top rebounder. The 6-foot-5 senior averaged 8.1 points and 5.5 boards last season. He had 15 rebounds in an NIT game against Kentucky.
He was one of three returning starters for Creighton, which was picked to finish second behind Northern Iowa in the Missouri Valley Conference and has played in the postseason 12 straight years.
One thought raced through Creighton forward Justin Carter’s mind as he lay on the Qwest Center Omaha floor Sunday afternoon, fighting back tears as pain shot through his left leg. “I just kept thinking about my future,” Carter said. “I just hoped that it wasn’t too serious.” Carter won’t know until Monday the full extent of the damage to his left knee that occurred with about eight minutes to play in the Bluejays’ 93-77 exhibition game victory over UNO. He had to be carried to the locker room but later returned to watch the final minutes of the game on the bench. ADVERTISING
He underwent about 45 minutes of treatment in the Creighton training room after the game and will have a MRI performed Monday. By the time he left the arena on crutches late Sunday afternoon, Carter’s outlook had brightened a bit. “They don’t know how bad it is, but they’re talking like it could be my MCL,” Carter said. While hardly minor, injuries to the medial collateral ligament usually aren’t as serious as those to the anterior cruciate ligament. Surgery almost always is required to repair tears to the latter, putting a player on the sidelines for four to six months. Treatment of MCL tears or sprains usually is more conservative. “When it first happened, I was thinking negative,” he said. “I’m more positive now. This could be a minor thing.” That hardly seemed the case when Carter was being attended to immediately after the injury. A hush fell over the crowd. Teammates gathered around, and Creighton coach Dana Altman had a “what-do-we-do-now” expression on his face. The 6-foot-4 Carter is considered the Bluejays’ leader. He joined the program last season as a junior-college transfer, started every game and finished as Creighton’s leading rebounder (5.5 per game) and fourth-leading scorer (8.1 points per game).
Chris Wright and Marcus Johnson practiced with the team Friday, and Dayton coach Brian Gregory said the two stars will play in Monday’s exhibition against Northern Kentucky.
Wright (ankle) and Johnson (ribs) missed the first exhibition against Ferris State with minor injuries.
The Flyers received some mention in this week’s edition of The Sporting News. They’re picked to win the Atlantic 10, and Wright was one of five players named to the All-Non-BCS team along with Butler’s Gordon Hayward, Nevada’s Luke Babbitt, Virginia Commonwealth’s Larry Sanders Jr. and Tulsa’s Jerome Jordan.
The Flyers could be in for a tussle against Northern Kentucky, which finished 24-7 and won the Great Lakes Valley Conference last season. The Division II Norse return two starters and will add three D-1 transfers to their mix this season: 6-9 David Palmer (Iowa), 6-7 Yan Moukoury (Houston) and 6-7 Chris Knight (Bowling Green).
Dustin Maguire, a 6-5 guard who once played for Saint Louis, averaged a team-high 15 points for the Norse last season. They’re ranked 20th nationally in D-II and will play at Xavier on Saturday.
Dayton punter and kicker Nate Miller has been suspended indefinitely for an undisclosed violation of team rules, coach Rick Chamberlin said.
The third-year sophomore from Medina, Ohio, has made 5-of-6 field goals this year and averaged 39.2 yards per punt.
Senior Nick Glavin, who had been UD’s kicker before losing the job this year to Miller, will likely become the starter again. Either Glavin or sophomore Kenton Froebe will do the punting.
Rebounding and defense are expected to be strengths again this season, but to keep its status among the Top 25 teams in the nation, Dayton will need to knock down shots and find consistent sources of offense.
While it’s difficult to glean much from an 88-73 exhibition win over Ferris State since leading scorers Chris Wright (knee) and Marcus Johnson (ribs) sat out with minor injuries, the Flyers did show some positive signs.
Chris Johnson played with his usual energy. Paul Williams just has a knack for scoring. London Warren seems poised to contribute more offensively with his ability to get to the basket. And Luke Fabrizius and Mickey Perry can flat-out bomb from outside.
UD’s play, though, was spotty. Points were wasted at the foul line (13-of-23), and the 23 turnovers left the crowd groaning in dismay at times.
“The turnovers, a little bit, were due to just impatience,” UD coach Brian Gregory said. “You can still play fast but be patient and poised. That’s something we need to get a little better at.”
The Flyers had some trouble with Ferris State’s zone. Gregory pointed out, though, his team hasn’t gotten to its zone-offense phase of preseason practice — something they’ll do in the next 10 days before the season opener.
UD also experimented with a two-post lineup with Wright and Johnson out. And while Devin Searcy fed Kurt Huelsman on two nice high-low plays to start the game, the offense wasn’t crisp.
“We did a poor job today of making the extra pass,” Gregory said. “We took some poor shots. You’re not allowed to shoot just because you’re open. … You’ve got to be ready to shoot and prepared to shoot. And sometimes you can give up a good shot and make an extra pass and get a great shot. We had been doing that. Maybe more than anything, I’m most disappointed with that.”
The Flyers will get one more dress rehearsal before playing for keeps. Their final exhibition game is Monday against Northern Kentucky.
Mickey Perry scored 16 points, Kurt Huelsman 15, Luke Fabrizius and Chris Johnson 14 each and Paul Williams 11 to lead Dayton to an 88-73 exhibition win over Ferris State on Tuesday.
Johnson, a 6-foot-6 sophomore, also had nine rebounds and four assists.
Chris Wright (ankle) and Marcus Johnson (ribs) were held out of the game because of minor injuries.
UD sold 11,166 tickets to the game, about three-fourths of which were used.
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Latest comment
A 10 point win over a D-II school?!?!? That is embarrassing. Will coach put Huelsgirl on the bench