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Saturday, November 28, 2009
Flyers pull off unlikely comeback
Implausible. Impossible. Pure fiction.
Dayton once came back from a 20-point halftime deficit in its history, but no one rallies from an 18-point hole in the final 9:30 of a college basketball game.
The Flyers looked like toast, playing lethargically and passively against Towson before suddenly transforming into that team that won 27 games last year and was a preseason Top-25 outfit.
There’s no overstating how important the Flyers’ 74-69 victory was to their postseason hopes. Yeah, I know, it’s only November. But the Flyers’ triumphs over Auburn and Marquette a year ago at this time propelled them to the NCAA tournament, and who knows how many quality wins it would have taken the rest of the season to offset a home loss to Towson.
The Tigers were picked to finish just ninth in the Colonial Athletic Association — two other future UD foes, Old Dominion and George Mason, were picked first and fourth, respectively — and a loss at UD Arena would have marred the Flyers’ postseason resume.
The Flyers almost rallied from 18 points down against Villanova in the Puerto Rico Tip-off Classic, cutting the deficit to two, but that comeback began at 14:05 of the second half and ultimately was fruitless.
After his team was gashed repeatedly from the 3-point line (the Tigers made 12 of their first 17 shots from the arc before ending with five straight misses), UD coach Brian Gregory said, “We’re just not there defensively yet.”
But he added: “One area where we ARE there is our guys have unbelievable heart and a never-give-up attitude. But we’ve got to get other aspects of the game solidified.”
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Flyers overcome 18-point deficit for win
Dayton avoided a monumental upset by overcoming an 18-point deficit in the final 9:30 to pull out a 74-69 victory over Towson today.
The Flyers (3-2) out-scored the Tigers, 12-0, over the last 4:27 to win their 22nd straight game at home.
They took their first lead since midway through the first half on a trey by Chris Johnson with 1:22 to go, making it 70-69, and after a defensive stop, the Flyers got another 3-pointer by Paul Williams for a four-point lead with 31.1 seconds left.
Chris Wright had 20 points and nine rebounds. Marcus Johnson had 12 points and Chris Johnson 10.
Josh Thornton scored 20 of his 22 points in the first half to lead Towson (1-3).
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Warren won’t start against Towson
Senior point guard London Warren will be replaced in the starting lineup by Mickey Perry for today’s game against Towson at 2 p.m. at UD Arena.
Warren, who is in his second season as a full-time starter, was late for a team meeting. He’s still expected to see plenty of action against the Tigers.
