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Flyers puzzled from second-half collapse

UD unable to get offense going in loss

By Doug Harris, Staff Writer 1:30 AM Thursday, January 26, 2012

PHILADELPHIA — Archie Miller let out a noticeable sigh when reminded that his team just finished the last leg of what he termed a six-game “gauntlet” to open the Atlantic 10 with a 4-2 record.

“It’s over. It’s over. Who’s next? I’m sure the next five won’t be fun, either,” he said with a chuckle after a 77-63 loss at Saint Joseph’s on Wednesday.

“We’ll take it,” he added of the 4-2 mark. “We’d like to be 5-1, yeah, but I’ll tell you this right now. We could easily be 2-3 or whatever, so let’s not be greedy. At the same time, let’s not be satisfied.

”I don’t want to take it personal on our kids. Like I told them, you can’t have maybe one of our best wins of the season on Saturday against a very good Xavier team and play as well as we’ve ever played, and then two days later you’re the worst doghouse guys in the world.

“But I think the one thing that’s very alarming, though, is that we have to understand there are times in the game when teams are shooting an abnormal percentage. And if our offense isn’t clicking, we have no chance. And our guys have to understand that.”

St. Joe’s scored 50 points and shot 70 percent from the field in the second half.

Fade to finish: Paul Williams wasn’t pointing figures. He knows his 0-for-9 shooting won’t cut it.

But the complete collapse by the Flyers in the second half left him mystified.

The meltdown looked eerily similar to the one at St. Bonaventure two weeks ago.

“We took our foot off the gas. It’s the second game in a row we’ve done that,” he said. But Williams added: “We’ll learn from this. I’m sure we’re going to see them again. And it’s going to be trouble when we see them again.”

Observers of the game probably wouldn’t agree. St. Joe’s was imposing around the basket defensively, which made for a struggling UD offense.

“When you look at St. Joes’ numbers for the season, everything around the basket is really hard,” Miller said. “C.J. Aiken, with his shot-blocking ability and altering shots, and with Ronald Roberts, they make anything around the basket hard.”

Super sub: Roberts had a career-high 27 points, including a windmill dunk that turned into a three-point play on a UD foul. He was averaging about 10 points off the bench.

Coach Phil Martelli said: “Ron ‘starts.’ He doesn’t get his name called. And I’m sure every young kid wants his name called at the beginning of the game so he can dance or do whatever they do ... but Ron is an unbelievable listener and really takes to heart whatever we bring to his attention.

“The guy is definitely in the conversation and probably is a leading candidate for sixth man of the year in a magnificent league. Some kids would pout, but that’s not the way he was raised. I’m happy for him.”

Back in form: Chris Johnson hadn’t been scoring much since missing the St. Bonaventure game Jan. 11 with a head injury, tallying just 10 points against La Salle (limited to just one half) and Xavier.

But the senior wing had 12 points in the first half against St. Joe’s, his highest output in the opening 20 minutes this season. He finished with 17.

Second chances: UD shot just 33 percent in the first half but had a 27-14 rebounding advantage, including 10 on the offensive end, while building a 32-27 lead.

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