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Flyers turn it on in second half
Although they may have been guilty of having some mental lapses against Presbyterian College in a 72-52 win, Dayton players did have one hustle play in particular that showed they weren’t taking the unheralded visitors lightly.
Rob Lowery poked the dribble away from his man midway through the second half, dived for the loose ball and swatted it toward the opposite end. As the ball was rolling along the sideline, UD coach Brian Gregory saw Chris Wright sprint toward it and ran along with his junior forward.
Both of them met at the baseline, and while Wright didn’t get there in time, it was the kind of energy spurt the Flyers displayed most of the final 20 minutes.
UD was winning just 46-41 with 14 minutes to go but then held the Blue Hose scoreless over the next seven minutes while racking up 17 points in a row.
“We didn’t play very well the first half, didn’t defend the way we’re capable of defending, and they made some shots,” UD coach Brian Gregory said. “They’re a good team. They play a lot of good players. People talk about who you’re playing and all these different things, but it’s who plays better during those 40 minutes.
“The records aren’t that important, and who you have isn’t that important. There’s too many good players out there. You see it every day in college basketball. I was pleased our guys bounced back. We played a very good second half defensively.”
The Flyers (8-2) won their sixth straight game behind strong performances from Wright (15 points and eight rebounds), Mickey Perry (15 points), Josh Benson (10 points and seven rebounds) and Kurt Huelsman (eight points).
Presbyterian, which started five freshmen, put four players in double figures.
“I couldn’t be prouder of our team,” Presbyterian coach Gregg Nibert said. “Dayton is awesome. They’ve got a heckuva driving team. Obviously, Chris Wright is awesome. We played them pretty good the first half. But they just killed us on drives and rebounds.
“Brian does a great job. They manhandled us on the boards in the second half, and that probably was the difference in the game.”
UD had a 20-15 rebounding edge in the first half and a 26-11 advantage in the second half.
The Blue Hose (2-10) have played at Clemson, Illinois, North Carolina and Ohio State. Asked if he would put UD in that class of teams, Nibert said: “There’s no question, man. These guys are good. But we’ve gotten better. … Don’t think we don’t have a good team, too.”
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By #1 foam finger
December 20, 2009 1:22 PM | Link to this
Doug, Had the flyers lost this game,would the headline read “Flyers Get Hosed”?