It wasn’t easy, but the Dayton Flyers won for the sixth time in as many games against the Xavier Musketeers at the venerable UD Arena, this time by the score of 65-62 on the heels of a late-game comeback. The Flyers overcame a 58-50 margin with just five minutes left by going on a 12-0 run to take the lead for good and hold on at the end. Ramod Marshall, Brooks Hall, and Yuanta Holland came up huge in the final minutes, connecting on must-have baskets that helped Dayton split the season series with their arch rival. The Flyers improve to 18-11 (9-7) with the win, while Xavier falls to 21-6 (12-4). Dayton, the #6 seed, will face #11 Rhode Island on Wednesday in the first round of the A-10 Tournament.

Xavier came into the contest with a #25 national ranking, but the UD Arena has been unkind to the X-Men ever since Oliver Purnell took over the Flyer program. The Muskies have sported national rankings six times in the 1990s, including an unblemished 12-0 record just a few seasons ago, but each time the Flyers have won at home. Despite having the better team however, Xavier has trouble playing a full 40 minutes of basketball in Dayton and it probably came as no surprise to Muskie fans that this game ended up no different. XU had their chances, but it was Dayton — for one of the few times all season — that stepped up late in the game to salt a victory away.

Like most UD/XU contests, this one started off in rare form as both sides were jacked from the opening whistle. The game remained nip and tuck throughout the first 20 minutes after David Morris converted a 4pt play to trim an 8-2 Muskie lead to just a deuce. Xavier turned up the intensity and started playing cageball however — and the officials swallowed their whistles. Despite getting mauled on nearly every possession by hatchet chops to the arms or pushes with the hip, Dayton hung tough. The Flyers tied things up at 30 apiece with under a minute left in the half, and things looked like it would stay that way when Dayton deflected a pass out of bounds with under 10 seconds remaining. The Muskies caught a break however when former Dayton Christian HS product Romain Sato took the inbounds pass and launched a 30 footer at the buzzer that rattled in for a 33-30 Muskie halftime advantage.

With 20 minutes gone, both teams were crippled by foul trouble. Tony Stanley and Lloyd Price each had three fouls while an army of other players were saddled with a pair. Only the halftime buzzer prevented someone from fouling out altogether.

The second half started much like the first. Neither team took control of the game, but the Muskies were ahead of the curve for a good part of it. Dayton took a brief 3pt lead with about 10 minutes left, but Xavier slowly took control of things and by the five minute mark, Dayton saw themselves trailing by the score of 58-50. Clearly, it was put up or shut up time and Oliver Purnell’s crew couldn’t afford to trade baskets any longer. The Flyers converted a quick basket, held fast on defense, and closed to the gap to 58-54 after Ramod Marshall took the ball the length of the court for a spectacular layup at full stride. Yuanta Holland tipped in a missed shot and two possessions later it was Dayton with an improbable 62-60 lead.

During the Flyer comeback, Dayton caught a break when they stole a ball from Lloyd Price near the XU bench, a play that could only be described as a mugging. But muggings were the status quo on the day and the officials were equal opportunity offenders all afternoon — something the conference must fix in a hurry.

Dayton held a 64-62 lead with under four seconds left when Tony Stanley went to the line to ice the game. He made the first but missed the second, and Xavier’s desperation shot from 40 feet drew iron but wouldn’t go down, sealing the Dayton win and first victory over a Top-25 opponent since the Maui Invitational.
Yuanta Holland, the game’s MVP, tallied 16pt and 7rbs. He scored eight of the Flyers’ last 15 points of the game. Brooks Hall chipped in 13pts — four of those coming on critical baskets from the free throw line as the Flyers kept pace. Keith Waleskowski scored just six points but grabbed 10rbs and kept XU’s superman David West in check for much of the game despite West’s 18pts and 11rbs. The Flyers shot just .375% for the game but the Dayton defense was one of the better efforts of the season, holding XU to .404% from the field — though XU missed several wide open jumpers.

Tony Stanley finished Senior Day by shooting a miserable 1-11 from the field — most of them forced and ill-advised attempts that felt like turnovers. But he came up big late in the game with two key rebounds under the basket to help the Flyers hang on for the win.

UD plays on Wednesday afternoon against Rhode Island, the conference cellar dweller. Dayton handled URI easily in Kingston, RI, two weeks ago, but the Rams up-ended Fordham recently and have enough talent to knock off Dayton if Dayton simply mails it in. The winner faces hometown darling Temple on Thursday in the quarterfinals.