The question on the mind of most of the Flyer Faithful heading into Wednesday’s game against the Maryland-Baltimore County Retrievers was whether the Flyers would come out flat after the big win against the Kentucky Wildcats.

The Flyers quickly answered that question by playing aggressively and taking a quick 7-0 lead. For the Retrievers it would be a long night. From the 7-0 Flyer start, the two teams traded baskets until Dayton switched from a half-court man defense to a mid-court trap, falling into a zone when the trap was broken. Using turnovers generated by the trap, solid three-point shooting, and several UMBC fouls, the Flyers extended an 18-14 lead to a 26-18 advantage, then closed the half with a 19-6 run over the last nine minutes. Nate Green and Tony Stanley led the first half scoring with 10 points apiece while Cain Doliboa and Mark Ashman each added six. Tony and Cain were both 2 for 3 behind the arc as the Flyers made 5 of 10 first half treys. Edwin Young, David Morris, and Tony Stanley put a blanket over Terrence Ward, holding him to four points in the half and eigt in the game.

Firmly in control of the game, the Flyers relaxed in the second half, maintaining a 16 to 25 point lead throughout the remainder of the contest. The second half featured inside scoring from Mark Ashman and torrid shooting from Brooks Hall, who nailed 4 treys in the last session. The Flyers again hit 50% of their treys, finishing the game 12 of 24 from behind the line. For the game, the Flyers had 5 players in double figures, led by Ashman with 19. Hall chipped in 17 while Stanely added 15 and Doliboa and Green each finished with 10 points.

Second half play became sloppy as the Flyers committed 9 of their 14 turnovers after intermission, most of those after the game was well in hand. Most disconcerting to Oliver Purnell, however, was the Flyer’s half court man-to-man defense. The Retrievers continually used solid block-to-block screens to post up the Flyers 3 man (Hall, Doliboa, or Stanley) for easy scores inside.

With the victory the Flyers improve to 5-0, the first time they have opened with 5 straight wins since 1982-83. Dayton tries for win number six on Saturday against Winthrop.

Chris Rieman will provide Saturday’s pregame report on the Winthrop Eagles, including a quick-hitter feature with Winthrop Head Basketball Coach Gregg Marshall. The Eagles finished 21-7 a year ago and earned their first-ever NCAA bid in Marshall’s first season at the helm. Nearly everyone is back for the Eagles in 99-00 as the school from Rock Hill, SC, shoots the three-pointer as well as anyone in the country — and possesses one of the nation’s under-rated backcourts.