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Flyers lose their shooting touch in loss to Saint Joseph's

Dayton 3-for-22 on 3-pointers; Lowery’s shot to win is blocked as St. Joe’s pulls upset.

By Doug Harris, Staff Writer Updated 12:08 AM Sunday, January 24, 2010

PHILADELPHIA — Jameer Nelson and Delonte West are toiling in the NBA. Ahmad Nivens is earning a living playing basketball in Europe.

Saint Joseph’s doesn’t have its usual array of recognizable stars, but the University of Dayton ended up getting humbled again in newly christened Hagan Arena, the former Alumni Fieldhouse.

Chris Wright scored a career-high 28 points, but UD missed 16 of its first 17 3-pointers and finished 3-for-22 from the arc while suffering a 60-59 defeat before a capacity crowd of 4,200 Saturday night, Jan. 23.

Although they fell for the fifth straight time on the road to the Hawks, the Flyers had the ball with a chance to win in the final 10 seconds. But Rob Lowery’s drive was blocked by Garrett Williamson with three seconds left to end the bid for victory.

“When you play like that, you don’t deserve to win,” UD coach Brian Gregory said. “It was a poorly coached game and a poorly played game. ... I’d have been more upset if we won the game because it would go against what we believe.

“Our defense was atrocious. We couldn’t guard the ball and we didn’t give any help. They turned it into a one-on-one game.”

The Flyers (14-5, 3-2 Atlantic 10) staged a furious rally after falling behind by nine with 5:24 to go. They cut the margin to 58-55 on a 3 by Mickey Perry with 1:12 left.

Williamson made two free throws with 43.4 seconds to go, but Wright scored on a put-back to make it 60-57. St. Joe’s (7-11, 2-3) committed a turnover at 26.7, and Wright scored inside with 15.3 ticks to go. The Flyers then fouled junior Charoy Bentley at 13.7, and he missed the front end of a 1-and-1, setting up Lowery’s dash to the rim.

“It was a good fight, certainly a good fist fight against a team that is an elite team not only in this league, but in the country,” St. Joe’s coach Phil Martelli said. “This is a very difficult building, and we play better in this building than anywhere else.”

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