UD’s Johnson finds solace on the court

By Doug Harris | Monday, November 9, 2009, 08:53 PM

Marcus Johnson went through an agonizing time being sidelined with a rib injury last week and watching his Dayton teammates dice up Ferris State in an exhibition game.

“I hate sitting out,” he said. “Sitting out practices or sitting out games, it’s hard.”

But something that pained Johnson even more than those sore ribs and the seat on the bench was saying good-bye to his great grandmother, Virginia Morrow, who passed away a couple of weeks ago at age 90.

Johnson, a Cleveland native, said he drew emotional support from her.

“It’s always tough losing a loved one, but she’s in a better place,” he said.

The most therapuetic thing for the senior guard was to get back on the court, and he had a solid game in the Flyers’ 71-61 exhibition win over Northern Kentucky tonight, finishing with 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting and four assists with one turnover in 22 minutes.

The Flyers had six dunks, and Johnson and Chris Wright had two each.

“Me and Chris bring a lot of athleticism to the team,” Johnson said. “It’s exciting, him getting slams and me getting fastbreak dunks.”

Wright, who also missed the first exhibition because of an ankle injury, had 11 points and five rebounds in 22 minutes.

“I was happy to be out there playing with my team, my brothers,” Wright said. “We were just having fun. We wanted to see where we were after the first exhibition and a solid week of practice.”

The Flyers made some progress, despite a so-so night from the field (44.6 percent). They hit 15-of-18 free throws and had just six turnovers.

London Warren was nearly flawless at point guard with four points, nine assists, two steals and just one turnover.

The Flyers started two post players, Kurt Huelsman and Devin Searcy, who had six points apiece, but they also utilized their speed lineup with a single post and the 6-foot-8 Wright at the 4 spot. Playing Wright inside allows UD coach Brian Gregory to get Chris Johnson on the floor at the 3, and the sophomore from Columbus is clearly one of UD’s best players.

“We went ‘small’ some out there, which we’re going to have to do sometimes — maybe more than others just due to the fact of match-ups,” Gregory said. “But I like the progress of our big guys. Devin played aggressively and is doing a good job, and Kurt played well tonight, too.”

The Flyers begin the regular-season Saturday against Creighton, which was picked to finish second behind Northern Iowa in the brutally tough Missouri Valley Conference. The Bluejays, though, lost a key player in their final exhibition Sunday. Justin Carter, who is the team’s top rebounder, reportedly will be out two to four weeks with a knee injury.

Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment

Creighton could be without top rebounder

By Doug Harris | Monday, November 9, 2009, 03:02 PM

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).

Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment

Wright, Johnson expected to play in exhibition

By Doug Harris | Friday, November 6, 2009, 11:56 PM

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.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment

UD punter-kicker suspended

By Doug Harris | Wednesday, November 4, 2009, 07:04 PM

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.

Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment

Gregory sees areas to work on after exhibition

By Doug Harris | Tuesday, November 3, 2009, 11:03 PM

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.

Permalink | Comments (7) | Post your comment

Flyers post exhibition win over Ferris State

By Doug Harris | Tuesday, November 3, 2009, 09:02 PM

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.

Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment

UD looking for improvement in exhibition

By Doug Harris | Monday, November 2, 2009, 01:04 PM

Exhibition games are normally a time for fans to kick back and enjoy a stress-free night while their team splatters an opponent, but that wasn’t the case when Dayton faced Findlay two years ago.

The Flyers survived, 81-78, against the Division II school and needed a questionable foul on Findlay and subsequent technical on the visitors’ coach to avoid a shocking defeat.

Of course, Findlay showed just how good it was by beating Ohio State, 70-68, a few days later.

The Flyers will play their first exhibition of the 2009-10 season at 7 p.m. Tuesday against Ferris State, and fans probably won’t have to worry about sweating this one out.

Although the D-II Bulldogs return four starters, they finished just 14-14 last season and didn’t start anyone taller than 6-foot-6 a year ago.

The Flyers, too, are more established than that 2007 team was at the beginning of the season. Although point guard Rob Lowery (knee) is still mending, and sophomore guard Paul Williams (concussion) will sit out, UD has experience galore this year.

“I think the most important thing is our guys have great confidence right now — not only in each other and themselves, but in the system, in the things we really try to preach and exercise,” UD coach Brian Gregory said.

“But we can’t look differently at what our core values are and foundation of what we’ve built this success upon. First and foremost, that’s taking every day and using every day to get better. The reason we’ve had some success is guys are continually getting better.”

Gregory is seeing that single-minded focus, thanks to veteran leaders who never try to slide by during practice.

“Those seven seniors (counting walk-ons) have set the standard. Those are the guys who are in charge of that,” Gregory said. “They don’t let any slip-ups. And that’s always the biggest challenge with a team that’s had success and is coming back. We tell our guys this is their team, and they need to take ownership for us in taking the next step as a program.”

Permalink | Comments (11) | Post your comment