In a battle of two teams trying to fight their way towards the NCAA tournament, the University of Dayton Flyers outmuscled the Massachusetts Minutemen for a hard-earned 89-76 win. With the victory, UD improves to 14-9 overall and 5-5 in the Atlantic 10. UMass suffers just their second conference loss against seven wins, and fall to 10-11 overall. The loss also snapped UMass’ six-game winning streak.In contrast to Dayton’s earlier loss to UMass, the Flyers were the dominant team inside. The Flyer frontcourt of Yuanta Holland (18 pts), Nate Green (16 pts), and Keith Waleskowski (16 pts) combined for 50 points, and outrebounded the Minutemen 34-25 as a team. In the first match-up between the two teams, it was the UMass inside game of Kitwana Rhymer, Micah Brand, and Jackie Rogers that combined for 50 points.Coming into the contest as two of the A10’s stingiest defenses, the game certainly started that way. UMass did not score until more than four minutes had elapsed, and at the first media timeout the score was tied at three.

From there, Dayton’s offense exploded as the Flyers shot well over 50% from the field as a team. In that first meeting on January 18, it was UMass that shot 51% for the game.By halftime, the Flyers led 43-31. The story of the first 20 minutes was scripted by the UD inside game. Holland, Green, and Waleskowski outscored their UMass counterparts in the paint 27-10. Dayton started the second half even stronger, scoring the first seven points to extend the margin to 19. A Rhymer basket (coupled with a foul on Waleskowski) finally got UMass on the board almost three minutes into the half. Monty Mack, held to seven points in the first game, followed with consecutive three pointers to cut UD’s lead to ten. He finished the game with 23 points. UMass’ three consecutive trips with three points made things interesting again — or could have.UMass could not get any closer however as Dayton continued to pound the ball inside and made their free throws down the stretch, sending the 13,400 in attendance home happy.

Every time UMass threatened to get back in the game, Dayton answered – whether it be a Tony Stanley (17 pts) three, or running the same play time and again to free Holland inside. In addition, freshman Ramod Marshall continued his steady play, chipping in with nine points.The Flyers attempted just nine three-pointers but converted on five of those. Those makes aside, Dayton was an entirely different team as they emphasized getting the ball inside on nearly every trip down the floor and looked much more deadly when not casting away on ill-advised treys. Those treys felt like turnovers in past games but Tuesday’s contest felt as efficient and assertive as any Flyer team in the last month of play. The less Dayton shoots the three-pointer, the better they play.

Random Notes: Next on the schedule for the Flyers is a trip to Kingston, Rhode Island for a date with the Rhode Island Rams. URI has struggled mightily since Lamar Odom decided to turn pro….UMass coach Bruiser Flint was ejected after his second technical foul with about five minutes to play for arguing with the officials….Guard Monty Mack scored his 2000th career point, and finally scored 20+ against Dayton. UD was the only A10 team (until tonight) that Mack had not scored 20 points in a game against….Flyer sophomore forward Brooks Hall (3 pts) returned from a two week absence due to a stress fracture. Unfortunately, he limped off the court in the waning moments of the game and was seen icing the leg.