Nov. 2, 2006
Box Score | Quotes | Gallery
Dayton, Ohio - Freshman guard Marcus Johnson scored 19 points while adding four rebounds and junior forward Jimmy Binnie added 11 points to lead the Dayton Flyers over the Northwood Timberwolves 66-51 on Thursday night at UD Arena.
In the team's first exhibition game at UD Arena junior forward Nick Stafford grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds and freshman forward Kurt Huelsman added nine boards.
The Flyers found themselves down 4-0 early to the Timberwolves, as they could not connect on their first seven shots of the game. Looking for a spark to the game, Dayton head coach Brian Gregory brought in Johnson and freshman London Warren just three minutes into the game.
Johnson proved he was ready for the collegiate level as he knocked down the first bucket of the game for the Flyers on a three-pointer from the left corner at the 15:42 mark. Just moments later the speedy Johnson stole a Northwood outlet pass and raced down the court for a dunk, bringing the announced crowd of 10,308 to their feet. The Cleveland, Ohio native finished the half with eights points while going 4-for-5 from the field.
The Flyers went on a 10-2 run over the next six minutes until Northwood's Aaron Simpson hit the three-pointer with 9:50 left in the first half, cutting the Flyer lead to one.
The two teams traded baskets for the next eight minutes of play until Warren found Binnie open for a three-pointer in the right corner with a 1:30 left in the half. Warren stole the ensuing in-bound pass and found Binnie open once again for a lay-up, increasing the Dayton lead to seven.
The Flyers would go up 32-19 on back-to-back three-pointers from Johnson and junior Andres Sandoval with just 30 seconds left in the half, concluding an 11-3 UD run to end the period up 32-22.
In the second half, the Timberwolves tried to pull a comeback but the Flyer defense was just too much. UD exploded at the 15:22 mark, going on a 14-2 run over the next five-and-a-half minutes, making seven of those off of Northwood turnovers.
Binnie scored eight points during that five-minute span. Johnson picked up where he left off, scoring 11 points in the second half to finish the game with 19. Johnson received a standing ovation from the Flyer Faithful as he came out of the game with six minutes left.
Despite shooting only 38 percent from the field and committing 19 turnovers offensively, the Flyers defense looked strong on the defensive end grabbing nine steals and putting up six blocks. Sophomore forward Charles Little tallied four steals and two blocks to go with six rebounds and six points.
Up next for Flyers is another exhibition contest against the Georgetown (Ky.) Tigers on Monday (Nov. 11) at 7 p.m. EST at UD Arena. Georgetown (Ky.) fell 94-92 to the University of Louisville in an exhibition game on Tuesday night.
