Dayton opens the A10 tournament with upset of Xavier

By Paul Casey Gotham

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Sometimes a bump on the head can be a good thing.

Just ask Dayton’s Luke Fabrizius.

With 5.8 seconds remaining in Friday’s Atlantic 10 quarter-final, Fabrizius needed directions to the foul line. The junior forward didn’t require any further instructions from there.

Fabrizius dropped a pair of free throws, and the Dayton Flyers fended off a furious comeback to defeat the top-seeded Xavier Musketeers 68-67 in A10 conference action at the Boardwalk Hall.

When Chris Johnson’s jumper kicked off the back rim, Fabrizius got position in a crowded lane to secure the rebound and draw the foul on his putback attempt.

“The ball happened to come off and got in my hands, and I got fouled,” Fabrizius said. “When I went down, I didn’t even hear the whistle go off. I didn’t even think I got fouled. ‘Wan’ (UD guard, Juwan Staten) looked at me and said ‘you’re shooting free throws.’ I had to shake it off and knocked ’em down.”

The Flyers regained a lead they had held for the entire game.

UD jumped to a 21-3 advantage six minutes into the game.

Brandon Spearman hit Paul Williams for a catch-and-shoot 3 in transition, and the Flyers had their largest lead of the contest.

“It’s all just going out there and having fun not trying to over-think the game,” commented Flyer senior forward, Chris Wright. “If you go out there too excited, you start doing crazy things. We were able to go out there and play together.”

The Flyers shot 56 percent (14-25) from the field including 57 percent (4-7) from behind the arc in the first half.

The Musketeers won both matchups during their regular season against their conference foe, but the Flyers used the experience to their advantage. The Xavier offense, which has routinely kept opponents off-balance with a series of ball screens, struggled on the court at Boardwalk Hall.

“We had five different coverages in the ball screen,” explained Dayton head coach Brian Gregory. “You can’t guard them the same way all the time. Every time you make a mistake on a ball screen coverage, they take advantage more so than any team in 21 years of coaching I have ever seen. If you’re sloppy, they can shoot behind it. If you’re too aggressive, they split it. If your guards don’t get over the top, they reject it. Then they start hitting rolls.”

Dayton’s pressure limited Xavier to 38.5 percent (10-26) from the field while taking a 36-27 lead at the break.

The teams traded baskets after the break.

Paul Williams opened the half with a 3 from the top of the key.

Dante Jackson answered at the other end with a 3-ball of his own.

Chris Johnson finished in traffic for the Flyers.

Jamel McLean grabbed an offensive rebound and got the putback for a deuce.

At the other end, Johnson curled off a screen and connected from behind the arc to give the Flyers a lead at 46-32 with less than 15 minutes remaining.

But the Musketeers would not go gently into the South Jersey afternoon.

Jamel McLean finished a high pick-and-roll from Tu Holloway with a thunderous dunk.

“First, we just understand that Xavier’s a scary team going down the stretch,” Wright explained. “With a player like Tu and a guy like McLean that can really rebound on the offensive glass, we just wanted to stay poised. We just wanted to stick with what what we do because basketball is a game of runs, and we knew they [were] going to make a run.”

Then the Musky defense forced the Flyers into a difficult shot.

Jackson fed Kenny Frease for a baseline drop-step, and the lead was down to 59-57.

Holloway gave the X-Men its only lead with a left-handed lay up in traffic and a free throw.

Holloway led all scorers with 23 points. The junior point guard was 7-for-17 from the field and 5-of-5 from the free throw line.

Lyons added 14 for the Musketeers, and McLean had 11. McLean and Frease had six rebounds a piece.

Wright led four Flyers in double figures with 15 points. Johnson had a game-high 10 rebounds along with 12 points. Williams added 14 and Fabrizius had 10.

Dayton plays Saturday at 1 p.m.