DAYTON (OH) — Walking out of UD Arena with five minutes left on Wednesday night wasn’t easy. The Flyers were just moments away from celebrating a thorough floor-mopping of #14 Xavier in a game they never trailed. Inside the locker room, point guard Rob Lowery sat in a wheelchair with a bum knee. Rob, like myself, couldn’t be there at the end to see it unfold. Fortunately for Lowery, he had teammates to lean on and joined them at center court for the post-game celebration. They, like the fans, knew the Flyers wouldn’t be 22-3 without Rob and everything he brings to the program. Despite the entanglement of emotions — to celebrate or commiserate – more than 13,000 souls traveled the strange path together. No victory in recent times came at such a price at such a wrong time.

Rob’s injury is made all the worse when re-visiting his big game ability to step up and make plays. Despite coming off the bench, he found ways to impact the game like a full-time starter. Considering Dayton’s suspect track record of fishing the JUCO ranks for help that’s talented, immediate, and purpose-driven, Lowery’s addition to the program probably surprised even the most optimistic Flyer fans. DJ Stelly was a defensive presence, but there is no laundry list of JUCO products to rattle names from to provide a noteworthy precedence — and that alone qualifies his importance to this year’s team.

With Dayton’s third leading scorer and second assist man out until next season, everyone else must work a little harder to fill the void. No player is more prepared to do just that than junior Mickey Perry. Stephen Thomas will see increased minutes and help ensure London Warren doesn’t need an oxygen tank near the bench, but Perry is the man to fill Lowery’s biggest contribution — ball pressure in the backcourt. For all the scoring potential and ball handling Rob offers, the 2008-09 Flyers are defined by one unwavering constant — relentless ball pressure on the opposing point guard. From there, everything else rolls downhill.

It’s hard to pick a more improved player this season than Perry, the former Wisconsin Badger and acclaimed sharpshooter turned defensive antagonist. While Perry’s jumpshot has just now come into focus over the last few games, his defensive presence has been a surprise from opening night. Someone turned the knob on this kid and convinced him he can and will play both sides of the ball. Not only has he embraced it, he’s flourishing as one of UD’s best on-the-ball defenders.

Perry has good size and above average lateral quickness to keep penetrators in front of him. When Lowery went down against Xavier, Brian Gregory brought in Perry to guard the ball outside the arc. Thomas remains the secondary ball handler, but does not have the same defensive quicks and is better suited at guarding someone else. Putting Perry on the ball also eliminates potential foul trouble by a speedy point guard taking advantage of Thomas. This team and this year’s success is all about role play. Everyone knows what they can and cannot do. Most of the time they remember that.

Even better, Perry’s jumpshot is coming into focus at the right time. He struggled with his “J” for the first half of the season, but Mickey is now dropping bottoms with more regularity from behind the arc. We’ve also seen baseline penetration for easy baskets when a seam opens up.

The remaining 11 guys can make up for Rob’s seven points a game without a lot of heartburn. The Flyers are going to miss Lowery’s tag-team defensive presence with London Warren however. Gregory kept each guy fresh with revolving-door substitutions. One guy went out, the other came in. Defensively, UD lost nothing. With 10 minutes left in the game, the opposing point guard started gasping for air. Minus Rob for the remainder of the year, Mickey Perry is the next best thing. A veteran with experience and plenty of playing time under his belt, BG has a lot of confidence in him. Perry is developing a lot of confidence in himself too.

For the Flyers to finish this season the way they started, everyone must do a little more. For Mickey, it’s a chance to rise to the occasion and become the cagey veteran leader we know he can be. Gregory’s gameplanning depends on it and our defensive posture demands nothing less. This is a team predicated on the sum of the parts adding up to more than the individual pieces. Perry knows that better than anyone and it didn’t take a teammate in a wheelchair to serve as a reminder. But it does take a guy with a reason and a will. If he didn’t already have one, he certainly does now. There’s never a wrong time to make the right move and turn strange paths of celebration and commiseration into paths of opportunity.