2012 senior class photos
2012 West Carrollton graduation
Home of the Week
Home > Blogs > Flyer Connection: University of Dayton sports > Archives > 2009 > November > 20 > Entry
Near upset not satisfying for Flyers
Dayton staged an entertaining but ultimately unfulfilling comeback in the Puerto Rico Tip-off Classic semifinals, falling to Villanova, 71-65.
The Flyers (2-1) trailed by 18 with 14:05 to go and cut it to two with 2:23 left on two London Warren free throws.
Corey Fisher made a pair of freebies for ‘Nova, but UD answered with a Chris Wright dunk off a Chris Johnson assist with 1:37 to go.
The 18th-ranked Flyers, though, didn’t score again until there were 15 seconds left as the fifth-ranked Wildcats closed it out at the free throw line, making 14-of-15 in the second half.
Post-game reaction:
“We lost to a really good team that’s only going to get better during the year,” UD coach Brian Gregory said. “They’re well-coached and well-schooled.
“I was hoping the 40 minutes would be like the last 10. We had two really good teams going after it, making plays. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that way. Give them credit. They did a lot of things against us to throw us out of sorts.
“Credit our guys for fighting back and weathering the storm and continuing to fight. I’m proud of our guys for that. But we’re at a point right now where we feel we could at least compete with these teams. I wish we would have done it a little more than just the last 10 minutes or so.”
“They’re very, very court-savvy both defensively and offensively. They may not be the quickest team or the most physical team, but they have a really high basketball IQ, and I think (coach Jay Wright) has done a great job of using that to his advantage.”
They sped us up some. We’ve never had any problems with any type of press — ever. But we had some today. Two or three casual turnovers. They lull you to sleep and all of a sudden slip a quick guard in there. They know how to play, and that’s why they’re so good. You watch them on film, and you’re not like, “Whoa.” But they know how to play. That’s the mark of a well-coached team.”
• “This is a young season, but that’s obviously the best we’ve played in four games,” Jay Wright said. “We played a helluva team. Dayton is a helluva team. They kept coming at us. They have a lot of weapons. They’re smart. They execute well.
Luke Fabrizius had a team-high 16 points on 5-of-9 three-point shooting. Fellow subs Chris Johnson (13) and Mickey Perry also had strong outings.
UD’s bench had 39 of the team’s 65 points and out-scored the Wildcats’ reserves by 14.
“Fabrizius was incredible,” Wright said. “We were trying to stay with him. They run really good sets and confused us a couple times, and we lost him a little bit. Our upperclassmen … really gutted it out.” “We were just trying to grind it out. We knew it woudl be a tough 40 minute ball game.
• Corey Fisher was unflappable for the preseason Big East favorites. He had a game-high 18 points, making 10 of 12 foul shots.
“You have to give a lot of credit to Dayuton,” he said. “They’re a good team. We knew it would come down to the last buzzer, and we had to get the win. That’s what we do. That’s Villanova basketball.”
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment |
Comments
By Mongoose
November 21, 2009 6:45 PM | Link to this
Someone better wake up Marcus