We’re all familiar with the story of a young officer tapping away SOSs in the ship-to-shore room as the RMS Titanic was heading to the bottom of the North Atlantic. Fans in attendance at the UD Arena Saturday afternoon — all 12,535 of them — as well as those watching on the A-10 Television Network, couldn’t help but squirm in their chairs and tap a flurry of SOSs to the front desk of Linda Bruno, the reigning commissioner of the Atlantic-10 Conference. As it was, the men in stripes tried to single-handedly drown the respect and dignity of the fans watching the game into the muddy base of the Great Miami River.

Somehow, the Flyers managed to survive the tragedy of inept officiating for an 83-76 victory in snowy Dayton.

Yuanta Holland, starting his second game in a row, nabbed a team-high 19pts and a team-high 10 rebounds to lead the charge. He also had three blocks. Mark Ashman added 18pts and seven boards wile Stanley chipped in 17pts and seven boards. Brooks Hall played his second solid game in a row, scoring 14pts, nabbing eight boards, dished out two assists, and collecting two steals. He was 2-3 from behind the arc and had two other treys taken away because of a whistle.

The first half was extremely physical and quite ugly. Neither team showed flashes of brilliance but the Flyers managed build a working margin on the heels of two breakaway dunks — one by Yuanta Holland and a reverse jam by Tony Stanley. Once the crowd got into the game, Dayton appeared ready to take control. George Washington’s Sir Valiant Brown was anything but special in the first half, throwing up one playground shot after another. On the other hand, Freshman Chris Monroe reminded fans who the real star on the team was, hitting several baskets to keep the Colonials within striking distance.

Later in the half, GW Head Coach Tom Penders got slapped with a technical for running his mouth on what was just one of dozens of questionable calls by the officiating crew. A Colonial player got pushed but got whistled for a travel, and Penders took a dislike to it. Brooks Hall sank both free throws off the “T” and the Flyer crowd ignited.

While Penders was bitter about the traveling violation, Mark Ashman continued to be treated like the forgotten stepchild, collecting phantom fouls in the first half that were the result of Colonial players instigating the contact.

Dayton held a 39-29 lead and worked the final possession of the half for a basket, but Brooks Hall and Tony Stanley ran into each other on a bad pass — a mistake that resulted in a lay-up at the horn to end the half a 39-31.

In the second half, Dayton took control early and eventually built a 50-34 lead — the largest of the game. The Colonials were forcing bad shots and Dayton converted free throws on the other end to extend the margin. Then the Flyer defense left the building.

During the middle 10 minutes of the second half, GW’s entire scoring came from lay-ups. Not one, not two, not three, but eight or nine. With the Colonials nabbing freebie points on the offensive end, the gap closed and Dayton began to panic. Several turnovers and a few missed free throws later, it was a seven-point game with plenty of time left to decide the winner.

As the game clock wound down, Dayton took possession and ran clock until it was almost too late to work for a decent shot. With the crowd egging the Flyers to shoot, Tony Stanley hoisted a fall-away turnaround jumper from the left side that rattled in and gave Dayton new life. From that point on, Dayton made plays down the stretch and held on for the win.

Brooks Hall had a crucial tip-in in the last two minutes, and despite a flurry of missed free throws in the waning seconds, Purnell’s club performed just well enough to improve to 14-3 (4-1).

Chris Monroe led GW scorers with 25pts and seven rebounds, while Val Brown netted 22pts and two boards. The difference was Monroe got his points on just 16 shots while Brown hoisted 27. Were it not for an uncharacteristic 4-9 from behind the 3-pt line, Val Brown would have been better off on the bench.

Without question Monroe is the better of the two frosh. Sir Valiant Brown has a terrific handle, but palms the ball and carries it as much as the officials will let him. His shot selection is as poor as anyone in the conference and decisionmaking is equally poor. Still, there’s a lot of natural ability and should he decide to let his mental game catch up with his physical tools, Val Brown could be as effective and efficient as Monroe.

In what can only be described as an embarrassment, Rich Sanfillipo, Carl Labranche, and Jody Silvester — the crew who officiating the game — wet their pants all afternoon with botched calls and inexcusable no-calls. They were equally bad on both sides of the ball and to both teams, and it’s a shame coaches and players are subjected to such ineptitude in the A-10 Conference.

The officials left off where they finished in the UMass game, slapping phantom foul after phantom foul on Ashman that can only be deemed acts of the paranormal. Late in the game, Mike King got pushed to the floor by a Dayton player and got called for a travel. Tony Stanley caught a fast break pass, caught the ball, and was whistled for a travel before he even replanted his feet.

One some possessions players were allowed to undress opponents while others possessions resulted in whistles for simply taking part in the game. It was the poorest officiated game of the season. Experienced referees would have let Penders run off some steam then walk away. This crew baited the GW Coach into a technical instead of letting the players decide things. The best officiated games are the ones when fans never mention the guys in stripes. Even in a victory, the mere fact that we must mention it is a strong indication of how inept it was.

The Flyers get a chance to improve to 15-3 (5-1) on Tuesday night as the LaSalle Explorers visit Dayton for an A-10 West showdown. Speedy Morris’ Explorers started the season off strong at 6-1 but have since nose-dived on the heels of Donnie Carr’s battle with pneumonia. LaSalle whipped Dayton twice last season and the Flyers have a score to settle.