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Flyers’ intensity overwhelms Xavier in sellout crowd

By Doug Harris, Staff Writer Updated 8:17 PM Saturday, February 6, 2010

DAYTON — London Warren walked around the perimeter of the court as the game was ending and waved his arms in the air to coax fans out of their seats — not that they needed much prodding.

Teammate Chris Wright turned to the stands and yanked on his jersey, pointing to the “Dayton” across the front while smiling and nodding his head.

The Flyers were putting the finishing touches on one of their most delectable wins in years, a 90-65 throttling of Xavier on Saturday. It was impossible to tell who was enjoying it more, the players or a UD Arena sellout crowd of 13,435 that was becoming more hoarse by the minute.

“We played with an incredible amount of energy,” Warren said. “Anyone who went in gave all they could. That was the thing going into the game, play as hard as possible for 40 minutes.”

Wright had 17 points and nine rebounds while being named the game’s MVP. Chris Johnson tallied 18 points and six boards, and Rob Lowery added 16 points and five assists.

After out-rebounding Xavier by 17 in the first meeting this season, UD bullied its way to a 42-24 edge on the boards.

“You can miss a lot of shots, you can turn the ball over and have some missed defensive coverages, but rebounding has a lot to do with being determined and tough,” UD coach Brian Gregory said. “And we’re starting to get that.”

The Flyers (16-6, 5-3 Atlantic 10), needing a win to keep their league title hopes from being extinguished, bolted to a 17-3 lead.

Trailing by 16 early in the second half, the Musketeers (16-7, 8-2) leaned on Jordan Crawford (24 points) and had a shot at getting the deficit into single digits. But Warren produced back-to-back steals that UD turned into a 58-45 lead with 11:18 to go.

The Flyers have won only two of the last 10 games and 11 of last 43 in the series, but they’re 5-2 at UD Arena since 2004. And that energy Warren mentioned was striking to Xavier coach Chris Mack, too.

“One team showed up and was very, very consistent in its effort, and one team didn’t show up,” he said. “We were thoroughly out-coached, ‘out-efforted’ and out-played.

“Hopefully, it’s a lesson our kids will learn. When you go into an environment like this, against a quality team, you’ve got to bring it.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2125 or dharris@DaytonDailyNews.com.

Next Game

Who: Dayton (16-6, 5-3 A-10) vs. Charlotte (18-5, 8-1)

When: 7 p.m. Wednesday

TV: None

Radio: WHIO-AM (1290), WHIO-FM (95.7)

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