Surprising Flyers surge into NIT semis

Win over Illinois sends Dayton to New York and a date with Mississippi at Madison Square Garden.

Dayton’s Luke Fabrizius (23) defends as Illinois’ Tyler Griffey shoots during the first half of the Flyers’ NIT quarterfinal victory in Champaign, Ill., on Wednesday, March 24. The win sends the Flyers to Madison Square Garden Tuesday for the semifinals.

Associated Press photo by Robert K. O’Daniell Dayton’s Luke Fabrizius (23) defends as Illinois’ Tyler Griffey shoots during the first half of the Flyers’ NIT quarterfinal victory in Champaign, Ill., on Wednesday, March 24. The win sends the Flyers to Madison Square Garden Tuesday for the semifinals.

ENLARGE PHOTO

By Doug Harris, Staff Writer Updated 2:23 AM Thursday, March 25, 2010

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The team that was christened the Atlantic 10 favorites — the bunch that was a preseason Top 25 pick — has finally materialized.

Whatever its ailments were during the regular season, the University of Dayton has shaken them all during a three-game run in the NIT. A 77-71 victory at Illinois on Wednesday, March 24, propelled UD to a national stage in New York City for the NIT semifinals.

The Flyers (23-12) built a 16-point lead with 6:40 to play and let it dwindle to four with 19.5 seconds to go through some shaky foul shooting, but they held on to advance to play Mississippi (24-10) at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Madison Square Garden.

Chris Johnson had 18 points, Marcus Johnson 11 points and eight rebounds and Chris Wright 10 points for the winners.

In a game pitting the sixth-place team in the Atlantic 10 against the fifth-place team in the Big Ten, the Flyers went on a 9-0 run to take a 9-3 lead with 16:15 to go in the first half.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Rob Lowery and Illinois native Mickey Perry and a transition layup by Kurt Huelsman made it 17-6 three minutes later, forcing Illinois coach Bruce Weber to burn a timeout.

Luke Fabrizius, another Illinois product, kept the barrage going by hitting a trio of 3-pointers in the first half. A Huelsman drive stretched the lead to 38-21 with 1:33 left, although the Illini (21-15) scored the last four points before the break to cut the margin to 38-25.

UD advanced to the NIT semis for the first time in 10 appearances in the tourney since winning the title in 1968.

The Flyers have shown they can play with major-conference schools after NIT road wins over Cincinnati and Illinois. They are 9-6 against power conference schools in the last four seasons, and only one of those games has been at UD Arena.

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

Next game

Who: Dayton (23-12) vs. Mississippi (24-10)

What: NIT semifinals

Where: Madison Square Garden

When: 7 p.m. Tuesday

TV: ESPN2

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

Ticket info: Tickets can be purchased through Madison Square Garden at www.thegarden.com or by calling 866-858-0008. Ticketmaster also is handling requests.

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