Feb. 13, 2008
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A game-high 22 points from senior Brian Roberts and a double-double from sophomore Marcus Johnson was not enough on Wednesday as Duquesne came from behind to defeat the Flyers, 63-61, at UD Arena. The Flyers fell to 16-7 (4-6), while the Dukes improved to 16-7 (6-4). Junior Aaron Jackson scored 17 points to lead Duquesne.
After trailing by 12 points early, Duquesne turned to full court pressure defense to stifle the Flyers and force 17 turnovers. The Dukes held a 19-7 advantage in points off turnovers.
A back-and-forth second half did not end the Flyers' way as UD missed a potential game-winning three-point attempt from the right wing just before the buzzer sounded.
Dayton shot 25-of-49 from the floor (51 percent), but just 6-of-17 from the foul line on its own home court. In contrast, Duquesne shot 26-of-64 (41 percent) and only had five free throw attempts.
Wednesday marked the first that Duquesne has defeated Dayton in consecutive contests since the Dukes downed the Flyers in 1993 and 1996.
Dayton dropped to 12-2 at home on the season.
It was all Flyers early. Dayton started 8-of-11 from the floor to build an 18-6 lead with 13:09 left in the first half. Johnson, who finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds, led UD early by slicing through the defense for three lay-ups and seven points during the game's opening minutes.
However, Duquesne's high-powered offense came to form midway through the half. The Dukes turned to the three-point shot to crawl back into the game.
Duquesne put up 15 shot from beyond the arc in the first half and connected on three of them during a 14-6 run over a five minute span midway to halftime. The Dukes also crashed the offense glass, hauling in eight first half offensive rebounds. These factors helped them pull to within two at the 7:44 mark, 24-22.
But following a cold start from the floor, Roberts buried his first three-pointer with 5:22 remaining to get UD back on track. Dayton shot a blistering 16-of-25 (64 percent) in the first half from the floor, but just 4-of-9 from the foul stripe.
Roberts caught fire in the half's final minutes, and led UD to a 39-34 lead heading to the locker room. The UD guard shared halftime top-scorer honors with DU's Jackson at 10 points.
The Flyers quickly saw their lead slip away in the first four minutes of the second half. Duquesne' full court pressure allowed them to creep back into the game. They tied the score at 42, and took their first lead of the night on a goaltending call on Johnson at the 13:05 mark, 46-45.
The teams traded buckets over the next four minutes. The Flyers regained the lead, 49-48, on a Charles Little rim-rattling slam dunk on a pass from Roberts, but Duquesne's Damian Saunders soon answered with a flush of his own to put DU back on top.
At the under 4:00 media timeout, Duquesne led 57-55. The Dukes held strong on defense for Dayton's first two possessions, and a Shawn James three-pointer put DU up by five.
Roberts answered on the other end with a triple, but James fired again from beyond the arc for Duquesne and connected, putting Duquesne up 63-58 with 1:34 remaining.
Johnson kept the Flyers in reach with a finger roll lay-up with 21 seconds remaining. With the Flyers down 63-61, the Dukes threw the inbounds pass out of bounds. Dayton scrambled for the game's final shot, and Sandoval missed a game-winning three-point try just before the buzzer sounded.
Dayton returns to UD Arena on Saturday, Feb. 16 to host the Temple Owls at 4 p.m. ET. The game will be televised live on WHIO-TV and can also be heard on WHIO Radio.
