Sometimes silence is golden. And to the Dayton Flyers no silence was ever more golden than that of 18,739 Louisville Cardinal fans on Saturday afternoon. So quiet in fact that Head Coach Denny Crum could be heard all afternoon by our Flyer contingent sitting behind one of the end zones. Continuing their strong play away from the UD Arena, the Flyers traveled to Freedom Hall and snapped a 20-game losing streak against the Cardinals.

Most impressive is the way in which the streak went down. After a nip-and-tuck first ten minutes, the Flyers held a 23-21 lead. Both teams were shooting the ball extremely well, but Louisville was finding it difficult to run its offense. Marcus Maybin — the Cards leading scorer — had not yet attempted a field goal. Their frontcourt, much maligned all year, had done much of the damage. In contrast, the Flyers were able to find just about any shot they wanted.

Suddenly the Freedom Hall crowd went silent as the Flyers broke the game open with a 19-2 run. Using a combination of man-to-man, 2-3 zone, some 1-3-1 zones in the halfcourt, and a 2-1-2 zone press, the Flyers prohibited the Cardinals from getting into their offensive sets. Maybin did not convert a field goal in the half, and second-leading scorer Reece Gaines was limited to 7 points. And while Tony Stanley was instrumental in holding Maybin in check, he torched the Cardinal defense with 20 first half points.

About the only suspense in the first half was whether Dayton would have enough players to finish the game. Nate Green, Keith Waleskowski, and Ramod Marshall all finished the half with 3 fouls. The second and third fouls on Waleskowski led to one of the more confusing sequences of the half. Up 17, Waleskowski was called for an offensive foul trying to post up Ellis Myles. Keith also apparently made a comment to the referee as he was also charged with a technical foul. Under a new rule this year, technicals called on players on the court do not give the opponents possession. After the refs inadvertently allowed Louisville to shoot (and miss) a free throw resulting from the offensive foul, they finally figured out that the proper order of events was to shoot the technical foul shots, then have Myles shoot the one-and-one. Ultimately, the Cards converted four freebies, and the Flyers 19-point lead was down to 13. On the next trip, Tony Stanley stuck a dagger deep in the Louisville heart by burying a long three. After trading buckets, Brooks Hall followed up by nailing a three at the buzzer to give the Flyers a 50-35 advantage at the half.

It is commonly said that one of the most important segments of a game is the first five minutes of the second half. Nothing would be more true in this contest as Louisville needed a quick run if they had any hope of getting back in the game. Instead, the Flyers quickly extended the lead to 23. The only remaining questions were if Stanley would establish a new career high and if the Flyers would be able to hold both Louisville guards in single digits. The answer to both was yes, as Stanley scored 28 on 11-16 from the field, while Maybin went 2-9 in scoring 7 and Gaines converted 3-10 to total 7.

The Flyers had four players in double figures, and all five starters converted more than 50% of their field goals. Yuanta Holland had 14, Nate Green 12, and Brooks Hall 11. David Morris posted 8 assists for the second consecutive game. More than anything else, this game showed what the Flyers can accomplish if they commit themselves to the defensive end of the floor and play hard for 40 minutes. While the offense was highly effective in shooting better than 60% in both halves, much of that resulted from easy baskets they got off their defense. Constant movement and hard cuts in halfcourt sets freed up shooters on most possessions. And for the first time this year, the Flyers completed a game that was never in doubt.