Last year at this time, I filed a blow-by-blow, play-by-play, in-person game report on the UMass/UD contest and had a lot of fun doing it, as you can read here:

https://www.udpride.com/archives/20030129.htm

So, when the chance to take a business trip to the wilds of southern Ohio and combine it with the final UD home game of the season arose, who am I to pass that up? Surprisingly enuf, this actually would be my 2nd UD home affair in a row, as Mrs. Swampy, the Swampettes and I attended the LaSalle game as part of Little Sibs Weekend. The last time I saw two UD tilts back-to-back was 1977, but who’s counting?

Before heading to the Arena, I had dinner with the Elder Swampette at the Sub House and delivered a load of laundry, a most welcome gift from her Mom. The ES had to get ready to head to Tampa Thursday morning with her teammates for the Mock Trial Nationals, so she couldn’t attend the game. I dropped her off back at her apartment and then met my esteemed Editor, Chris Rieman. We were going to go for a cold one at the Time Warner Flight Deck, but they were completely filled. So instead, I headed to my perch, right next to the Flyer Radio guys up in section 301, “High above courtside” as Johnny Most of the Celtics used to say and start banging away on my keyboard in the dark. Here’s what I got:

— What can you say about the 5 seniors? They gave everything they had every time they stepped on the floor. ‘Nuf said.

— Call me old school, but I still like it when the two teams walk over and shake hands after the National Anthem.

— Well, that answers that question: Ramod is dressed and starts with the other four seniors.

— Iggy dunk! 2 Iggy FTs! Iggy tip! It’s Frank the Tank 6, URI 2.

— BG slowly slides the starters into the lineup and URI stealths its way to a 9-6 lead. WW comes in for Ramod at 14:35 — good move by BG, as RM looks tired.

— KW scores five in a row to get UD within 1, 12-11. BG has a lineup of SF/KW/MS/MB and WW — don’t know that I’ve ever seen that one before.

— Ramod comes back in shooting and is not even close on a 3, too long on another, then misses a 2, to boot. He’s gotta keep shooting until he gets comfortable. Monty and KW both hit jumpers, giving UD an 18-15 lead.

— Is it just me or does URI’s offense consist of passing the ball around until someone is open for a three?

— Speaking of threes, finally, RM for 3! Then just like that, Ramod for three again! RM to KW for a layup — UD by 10, 28-18 with 6:48 to go in the half.

— You can tell when a player wants nothing to do with FTs. URI’s Scott Hazleton is one of those guys….he looked like he couldn’t wait to get rid of it.

— UD up 36-28 at intermission.

— I spent halftime in the press room with Michael Giangreco, an enterprising soph who gave me his card. He has his own website: www.udtkosports.com, works for Flyer Radio and writes for the Flyer News. I asked him if he was related to Mark Giangreco and it turns out that Mark is his uncle. Mark played on the WVUD Burnouts softball team with us when I worked there, even tho he actually did a weekend shift at WING. “Greco” as we knew him back then has been the sports anchor at WMAQ-TV in Chicago forever.

— Michael said that he had the chance to go to the NFL scouting combine. At the Maurice Clarett press conference, he waited until there was only time for one more question and grabbed the opportunity and asked Clarett “Maurice, what’s gonna change in your life?” His answer: “My address.” That quote got picked up by all of the papers.

— Did any of you Daytonites see me at halftime — I walked right by BG as he was being interviewed on TV.

— Slow start to second half — it’s down to 40-37 UD at 15:44 — here we go again.

— The refs called 3 quick fouls on URI, so now they feel compelled not to call any.

— Unfortunately for him, James Cripe shoots FTs like Sean Finn.

— MJ for 3 and, not to be redundant, MJ for 3 again.

— It seems like the score has been 59-56 for about 2 hours.

— Dustin Hellenga airballs a 3 and he hears it for the whole TO and for the rest of the game from the Student Section. Dustin fouls Mark Jones on a breakaway after a KW steal, which lead to 2 MJ FTs and a tie game at 62.

— SF is 0-4 on FTs — that’s a bad sign

— The “We Are” and “UD” signs on every seat are a cool addition — even the blue hairs got into using them.

— 1 of 2 Finn FTs gives UD a 63-62 lead after Sean was fouled under the URI hoop with 7 seconds left.

— BG uses all of the fouls that the Flyers have to give and back-to-back TOs are called, as both coaches try to figure out what the other guy is going to do.

— Dustin Hellenga for 3 at the buzzer. Ouch.

That’s it “From the Swamp”