As Led Zeppelin once wrote, the song remains the same. For the Dayton Flyers, defense, or lack thereof, is becoming a major issue — especially against big physical teams. The Flyers dropped their third conference game in row, falling tonight to the UMass Minutemen 62-57 in Amherst, MA.

The Flyers wasted a decent shooting night, at one point going 6-7 from three-point land. Tony Stanley finished with 23 points. Keith Waleskowski had another strong outing, contributing 11 points and 8 boards off the bench.

Unfortunately, all was lost as the Flyers permitted UMass to penetrate at-will in the paint, being outscored 44-21 in the box. The Flyers were not blocking out, rebounding, nor did they pick up defensive switches all evening. If not for this, Dayton could have won easily. UMass shot rather poorly outside of 10 feet, managing a dismal 1-9 from three-point territory.

Dayton squandered another double-digit second half lead, which may be an indication of tired legs. Without the services of Hill, Doliboa, King, and Osborne, the Flyers are exceptionally thin, especially at the forward spots. And with only one true center — a non-starter — the season could be fading fast.

Make no mistake, UMass came to play tonight. The Minutemen got strong contributions from Kitwana Rhymer (19 point, 13 rebounds), Jackie Rogers (16 points, 2 rebounds), and Micah Brand (14 points, 4 rebounds). With so many rather easy looks, UMass shot over 50%, while shooting 11% from three-point land. The Minutemen shot nearly 80% from the line; Dayton shot 43%.

The Dayton Flyers are looking forward to some much needed home-cooking on Sunday against LaSalle. The Explorers are mired in another sub .500 season under the direction of the venerable Speedy Morris.