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UD players banding together

By Tom Archdeacon, Staff Writer Updated 12:46 AM Sunday, February 28, 2010

They had just clobbered Massachusetts 96-68 and now some of the Dayton Flyers took aim at their detractors.

“I want you to put this in the paper — put it in big as possible,” backup center Devin Searcy said as he sat at his locker in the dressing room Saturday night, Feb. 27.

“I honestly don’t want anybody pulling for us. We don’t need anybody in our corner patting us on the back as long as the 17 or 18 or so guys in this locker room are together. We play better when it’s us against the world, when our backs are against the wall.”

And that’s just where the Flyers’ shoulder blades are pressed. Coming into the game at UD Arena, the Flyers had lost three of their last four games and suddenly seemed closer to a postseason appointment to the NIT than to the coveted NCAA tournament.

With a road trip to No. 23 Richmond looming Thursday and then next Saturday’s home finale with Saint Louis, a team that beat UD in two overtimes two weeks ago, the Flyers seemingly need to win at least one of those games and then go deep into the Atlantic 10 tournament to keep their bubble hopes from evaporating.

“We know just a handful of people believe in us now,” said Chris Wright, who had 14 points. “We’re cool with that.

“All those other folks talking ’round town and putting stuff on Facebook don’t matter. They’re not in a jersey. They’re not playing. We’re not gonna lay down or quit. We believe in each other.”

Senior forward Marcus Johnson agreed: “We’re a band of brothers. That’s been our motto, and tonight I think you saw that in the way we played.”

Six Flyers — led by Mickey Perry with 15 — scored in double figures. And UD had a whopping 25 assists — all signs of players looking out for one another, Johnson said.

Certainly the rout had something to do with the opponent. UMass — now 10-18 — isn’t a very good team. And then there’s the Jekyll-Hyde transformation that hits the Flyers when they play at home, where they’ve won 34 of their past 35 games.

“This is home, and we know every spot on the floor,” Wright said.

Perry said more than the floor, it’s the fans: “Their energy is contagious, and it just engulfs you. It helps you do things you couldn’t do before.”

As for the 30 former Flyers — guys like Donnie May, Roosevelt Chapman and Mike Kanieski — who were honored on the court at halftime, their presence lifted some current players more than others.

Wright said he felt a big connection with them, but guard Rob Lowery, the senior transfer, admitted none of the names rang a bell: “Nope, none of them ... Sorry ... But I know you still gotta show ’em love because they laid the foundation and a lot of them have been where we want to go.”

He was talking about the NCAA tournament, but first comes Richmond and Wright summed it up best:

“Tonight was a great team effort, but we got to be able to do it away from home, too. And down there we better have a lot more toughness ’cause Richmond ain’t no joke.”

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