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UD holds off Rhode Island's rallies in A-10 opener
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
DAYTON — Turns out this University of Dayton basketball team has some scoring punch to go along with good defense.
The Flyers had an answer for every Rhode Island rally Wednesday night at UD Arena — the most emphatic one a Marcus Johnson 3-pointer with 58 seconds left.
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That stretched the lead back to seven points and enabled UD to hang on for a 92-83 victory in front of 13,435 fans.
"We found out a lot about ourselves tonight," UD coach Brian Gregory said. "In early January you have a lot of room to improve and grow."
The first-ever Atlantic 10 opener between two teams ranked in the Associated Press' Top 25 didn't disappoint. The win was UD's third against a ranked team after earlier wins against Louisville and Pittsburgh.
"I think you're going to see a lot of games like this," Gregory said. "That was a great college game. We played tough, as did Rhode Island."
Coming in, it was the 22nd-ranked Rams who had averaged 90 points in their last five games.
But the 17th-ranked Flyers and reserve guard London Warren decided Rhody wouldn't hit 90. Warren backed that up by making two plays in the final minute.
First, Warren grabbed the ball after a scramble and called timeout with five seconds left on the shot clock.
That led to Johnson's 3 that put UD up 85-78. Later, he stole the ball from Rhode Island's Parfait Bitee to snuff another Rams' possession.
"I was just trying to come off the bench and give my team energy," Warren said. "I know that's my role and I had a letdown in the past couple games, so I had to pick it up."
Brian Roberts — who had a team-high 23 points — hit six straight free throws down the stretch to ice it.
"We knew how tough it was going to be," Roberts said. "Even with a lead we knew they were going to fight back and we got a lot of good play from a lot of guys."
Rhode Island (14-2, 0-1) was led by Jimmy Baron's 26 points while Will Daniels had 25 and Bitee 15.
The Rams narrowed a 14-point deficit to 73-70 but Andres Sandoval, Charles Little, Roberts and Johnson made big plays down the stretch.
UD got 14 points from Johnson, 12 from Sandoval and 10 from Kurt Huelsman.
The win gives UD (13-1, 1-0) a 12-game winning streak. The three wins over Top-25 teams in one season is the first such feat since 2002-03 when UD beat Cincinnati, Marquette and St. Joseph's twice.
UD built a 54-41 halftime lead behind a ridiculous 74 percent shooting (20 of 27) from the field.
The Flyers were 7-of-12 at the free-throw line and behind the arc in the first half. The 54 points were the most UD has scored in a half this season.
Roberts had 11 points and Johnson 10 as UD played the type of up-tempo basketball Rhode Island likes to display.
That led to several highlight plays like 3-pointers from five different players and alley-oops from Sandoval to Johnson and to Little.
"We didn't do that good of a job on the defensive end," Baron said. "We gave up a lot of open shots, especially when they got the ball inside and kicked it back out."
One exciting score may have come at a cost. Freshman Chris Wright — already battling a sore right ankle — grimaced after he hit a reverse layup. At the next break, he left the court with UD's trainers and did not play again.
"We won't know a lot until tomorrow," Gregory said. "The team has to continue to improve without him, although we are stronger and better with him.
"We'll see what the results are (Thursday). From the little I've heard, it doesn't seem like a re-injury of what he had."
The Rams shot 53 percent in the first half with Baron scoring 12 and Daniels and Bitee adding eight apiece. But the Rams had fewer rebounds (16-13) and more turnovers (12-10). Like UD, they struggled at the line (6 of 12).
UD raced out to a 25-16 lead before Rhody cut it to 29-25. Late in the half, sub Mickey Perry added two 3-pointers and two free throws and Huelsman scored twice inside.
Roberts, who made 5-of-6 field goals before halftime, capped the first half with a running 15-foot jumper.
He capped the second half with his free throws that helped win the A-10 opener.
"Every game is going to be like that," Roberts said. "We just have to be ready for it."
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-6951 or mgokavi@DaytonDailyNews.com.
