Nov. 21, 2004
Box Score
DAYTON, OH -- - The University of Dayton men's basketball team could not overcome a hot-shooting first half by Eastern Kentucky University and the Flyers dropped their opener 73-66 at UD Arena Sunday afternoon. The Colonels connected on nine of their first 11 shots en route to handing the Flyers their first season-opening loss at home since 1997.
Sophomore Monty Scott, who averaged 14.5 points in the Flyers two exhibition games, posted 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Freshman Brian Roberts was the other Flyer in double-figures with 10, while freshman Chris Alvarez led all rebounders with nine. Michael Haney scored 20 points for the Colonels to lead all scorers.
UD (0-1) opened up a 6-2 lead as senior Mark Jones, and junior Warren Williams connected on the Flyers' first two three-point attempts. But a three by EKU's Zach Ingles and a layup by Jason McLeish gave the Colonels a 7-6 lead at the 17:48 mark and the visitors would not trail again.
Freshman Jimmy Binnie came off the bench and drilled a jumper from the top of the key, cutting the EKU lead to three at 20-17 with 13:51 left in the first half. But the Flyers went cold and were held scoreless for nearly six minutes while the Colonels built a 13-point advantage.
A jumper by Scott quenched the UD drought and made the score 30-19, but another big trey by Ingles gave the Colonels their largest of the half at 33-19. Ingles finished with 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting from behind the arch.
EKU (1-0) drained six three-pointers in the opening 20 minutes and took the 38-27 lead into halftime.
Matt Witt, who finished with 17 points in his return to the Miami Valley after graduating from nearby Bethel High School in 2002, nailed another three for the Colonels to open the second half. Haney then converted a pair of free throws as EKU opened its largest lead of 16 points at 43-27.
UD began to chip away and seemed to have new life after Scott slammed an alley-oop from Warren Williams, which made it a 10-point game at 49-39 with 11:32 left. Two more points from Scott off a layup and a three from Binnie cut the lead to eight at 52-44 with 9:24 to play and the crowd of 12,254 was back in it.
Jones hit a three with 2:24 left to make the score 65-56. UD then forced a turnover, but gave the ball right back with a turnover of its own on a fast break. After a stiff defensive stand by the Flyers, Haney missed a layup, but Alonzo Hird's tip-in was a back-breaker with 1:11 left to make the score 67-56.
The Flyers attempted a furious comeback in the final minute as Meacham hit a driving layup and Roberts made two threes. But the Colonels were 6-of-10 at the line late to seal the victory.
After a six-day break, UD will return to action next Saturday at home, hosting Coppin State at 2:00 p.m. ET.
POSTGAME QUOTES:
Dayton Head Coach Brian Gregory "I give them a lot of credit. They played a solid game for 40 minutes."
"(Michael) Haney is a heck of a player. He was a tough match-up for us. He was physical and played a solid game today. We made him work for everything today, but he made all of their big shots."
"The theme for our team this season is `To play harder than the other team all the time.' Today, they out scrapped us sometimes and when we made a run they weathered the storm."
[on finding positives in a loss] "It's tough on a loss. We outrebounded them, but when you have that many offensive rebounds you need to get more second chance points."
"Right now we are a better offensive rebounding team than a defensive rebounding team because of our ability to react to missed shots."
"We need to shoot better, but 44.9 percent against us is too high as well. They got off to a good start, but from the five-minute mark of the first half on, we played much better defensively."
Eastern Kentucky Head Coach Travis Ford "It's a big win for our program. It's a great tribute to this basketball team. We've practiced hard, so that the games seem easier and it paid off today. I told our guys to enjoy it and we'll move on tomorrow. It's a very big win for our program to beat another very good program on their home floor."
"All the new guys have fallen in with (Matt) Witt, (Michael) Haney and (Julian) Mascoll. That was my concern coming into this season, how well these guys would gel. The new guys fell in and it was a total, 100-percent team effort."
"When Alonzo (Hird) gets into foul trouble, we get very young with our post players. And for us to get this win with him missing significant time because of foul trouble, that makes me very proud of our team."
Nov. 21, 2004
DAYTON, OH -- The University of Dayton men's basketball team could not overcome a hot-shooting first half by Eastern Kentucky University and the Flyers dropped their opener 73-66 at UD Arena Sunday afternoon. The Colonels connected on nine of their first 11 shots en route to handing the Flyers their first season-opening loss at home since 1997.
Sophomore Monty Scott, who averaged 14.5 points in the Flyers two exhibition games, posted 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Freshman Brian Roberts was the other Flyer in double-figures with 10, while freshman Chris Alvarez led all rebounders with nine. Michael Haney scored 20 points for the Colonels to lead all scorers.
UD (0-1) opened up a 6-2 lead as senior Mark Jones, and junior Warren Williams connected on the Flyers' first two three-point attempts. But a three by EKU's Zach Ingles and a layup by Jason McLeish gave the Colonels a 7-6 lead at the 17:48 mark and the visitors would not trail again.
Freshman Jimmy Binnie came off the bench and drilled a jumper from the top of the key, cutting the EKU lead to three at 20-17 with 13:51 left in the first half. But the Flyers went cold and were held scoreless for nearly six minutes while the Colonels built a 13-point advantage.
A jumper by Scott quenched the UD drought and made the score 30-19, but another big trey by Ingles gave the Colonels their largest of the half at 33-19. Ingles finished with 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting from behind the arch.
EKU (1-0) drained six three-pointers in the opening 20 minutes and took the 38-27 lead into halftime.
Matt Witt, who finished with 17 points in his return to the Miami Valley after graduating from nearby Bethel High School in 2002, nailed another three for the Colonels to open the second half. Haney then converted a pair of free throws as EKU opened its largest lead of 16 points at 43-27.
UD began to chip away and seemed to have new life after Scott slammed an alley-oop from Warren Williams, which made it a 10-point game at 49-39 with 11:32 left. Two more points from Scott off a layup and a three from Binnie cut the lead to eight at 52-44 with 9:24 to play and the crowd of 12,254 was back in it.
Jones hit a three with 2:24 left to make the score 65-56. UD then forced a turnover, but gave the ball right back with a turnover of its own on a fast break. After a stiff defensive stand by the Flyers, Haney missed a layup, but Alonzo Hird's tip-in was a back-breaker with 1:11 left to make the score 67-56.
The Flyers attempted a furious comeback in the final minute as Meacham hit a driving layup and Roberts made two threes. But the Colonels were 6-of-10 at the line late to seal the victory.
After a six-day break, UD will return to action next Saturday at home, hosting Coppin State at 2:00 p.m. ET.
POSTGAME QUOTES: Dayton Head Coach Brian Gregory:
"I give them a lot of credit. They played a solid game for 40 minutes."
"(Michael) Haney is a heck of a player. He was a tough match-up for us. He was physical and played a solid game today. We made him work for everything today, but he made all of their big shots."
"The theme for our team this season is `To play harder than the other team all the time.' Today, they out scrapped us sometimes and when we made a run they weathered the storm."
[on finding positives in a loss] "It's tough on a loss. We outrebounded them, but when you have that many offensive rebounds you need to get more second chance points."
"Right now we are a better offensive rebounding team than a defensive rebounding team because of our ability to react to missed shots." <P>"We need to shoot better, but 44.9 percent against us is too high as well. They got off to a good start, but from the five-minute mark of the first half on, we played much better defensively."
Eastern Kentucky Head Coach Travis Ford
"It's a big win for our program. It's a great tribute to this basketball team. We've practiced hard, so that the games seem easier and it paid off today. I told our guys to enjoy it and we'll move on tomorrow. It's a very big win for our program to beat another very good program on their home floor."
"All the new guys have fallen in with (Matt) Witt, (Michael) Haney and (Julian) Mascoll. That was my concern coming into this season, how well these guys would gel. The new guys fell in and it was a total, 100-percent team effort."
"When Alonzo (Hird) gets into foul trouble, we get very young with our post players. And for us to get this win with him missing significant time because of foul trouble, that makes me very proud of our team."
