A The Dayton Flyers missed three chances in the last minute to score the winning basket as the #3 UC Bearcats escaped Gund Arena with a 53-51 squeaker before 15,440 fans at the Rock n Roll Shootout. Despite Sunday’s loss however, the Flyers removed all doubts that they cannot compete with the nation’s best away from the UD Arena. In fact, Oliver Purnell’s team outplayed UC in many respects but failed to score a field goal in the final four minutes and couldn’t make the game-winning shot at the end to seal a huge upset. Dayton falls to 4-5 on the season while Cincinnati improves to 11-0.

Tony Stanley played a remarkable game, scoring 16 points, grabbing 5 rebounds, 3 steals, and played solid defense in 35 minutes of action. Edwin Young added 13 points and suffocating defensive pressure to keep the Flyers close all afternoon. Mark Ashman, outclassed physically by bigger and stronger UC players, held his own with 10 points on 3-6 shooting and played strong defense against Kenyon Martin and Ryan Fletcher.

The first half started with two quick baskets by UC but Dayton settled in and eventually took a 7-6 lead. For the rest of the half, both teams took turns pulling punches as the lead changed hands several times but the margin never exceeded 5 points in either direction. Bob Huggins’ team missed many close-in baskets that kept UD in the game and caused the Bearcats to lose composure on a handful of other first-half possessions. Tony Stanley added a pair of treys and paced Dayton to a surprising 27-23 halftime edge.
For many Flyer fans, the start of the second half was a scary thought. In past games Dayton has fallen asleep at the opening of the final frame and let teams make huge scoring runs at the expense of long Flyer scoring droughts. Fortunately, UD picked up where they started off and maintained a slim lead until the final minutes of the game with stellar defense, timely baskets, and excellent free throw shooting. For the first time in years it seemed, balls started bouncing the Flyers’ way. Dayton kept the Gund Arena crowd pulling for the underdog the entire afternoon and had the Bearcats right where they wanted them.

In the final five minutes however, Cincinnati put the clamps down on the Flyer offensive game, and went inside to Kenyon Martin for crucial baskets. Dayton still held a 51-50 edge with just over two minutes to play but couldn’t convert in the final few possessions to break the Bearcat jinx.

Tony Stanley had a lay-up with under 20 seconds remaining that would have given UD a 52-51 lead, but his shot was blocked and UC converted on 1 of 2 free throws at the other end to finalize the score. Stanley missed two shots in the final five seconds that could have sent the game into overtime.

Coby Turner, hampered with a strained abdominal muscle and a shooting slump, hit only 1 of 6 treys. Turner did not attempt a 2-pt field goal in 23 minutes of action. Cain Doliboa was rewarded with his first start of the year after playing well on both sides of the ball in the last several games. Doliboa finished with only 2pts but collected a team-high 7 rebounds. Yuanta Holland saw 18 minutes and grabbed 5 boards to go along with solid defense. Holland’s weakness still lies on the offensive end where he has struggled from the field, and, especially, the free throw line.

Dayton shot only .314% from the field but held UC to a modest .339% to balance out the lackluster shooting. While Dayton got outrebounded by 7, the Flyers tallied 11 steals and nailed 13 of 16 from the charity stripe. In all, so many good things happened on Sunday with the exception of a UD victory. Though the loss drops UD to under .500 for the first time all year, it sends a message to the players and opposing teams that UD can play with anyone in the country away from home when they play smart, aggressive, and confident.

Currently, Dayton is the highest ranked team in the country with a sub .500 record according to the Sagarin computer ratings. According to the RPI, Dayton’s strength of schedule is 12th toughest in the nation. Obviously, if Dayton can piece together 10-11 wins in the A-10 this year, the NCAA tournament may not be a pipedream.

The DePaul Blue Demons visit the UD Arena this week for a contest between two longtime rivals. The Blue Demons have been up and down this year, losing to Kansas in Lawrence by just a couple of baskets but getting shellacked at the hands of Louisville by over 30 points. DePaul fields one of the nation’s finest freshmen classes and will be a stiff test for Purnell’s army.