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Junior Kevin Dillard had 13 points and eight assists. |
DAYTON, Ohio – The sixth-seeded University of Dayton men’s basketball team (20-11) advanced to the quarterfinal of the 2012 Atlantic 10 Championships, beating the No. 11 seed George Washington Colonials (10-21) 67-50 on Tuesday at UD Arena.
Dayton was paced by sophomore Devin Oliver, who had a career-high 19 points and eight rebounds. Oliver's previous career high was 15 points against Charlotte on Feb. 15. Since moving into the starting lineup five games ago, Oliver has averaged 10.4 points and 8.0 rebounds. Also scoring in double figures were junior point guard Kevin Dillard with 13 points, while senior guards Paul Williams and Josh Parker each added 10.
Junior forward David Pellom had a double-double for the Colonials. Pellom had 18 points and 10 rebounds.
UD never trailed in the 17-point win, and shot 51.2 percent from the field. Dayton went 18-for-20 at the foul line. George Washington shot 34.5 percent from the field.
Dayton jumped out to a quick 9-2 lead as a Dillard feed found freshman Alex Gavrilovic for a wide-open dunk. Dayton led 17-12 with 11:48 remaining in the first half, as the Flyer defense forced GW to miss its 10 consecutive shots over a seven minute span. During that time, UD went on a 10-3 run, and entered the locker room with a 31-17 lead at the break.
The Colonials came out strong at the beginning of the second half with a 13-4 run to pull within five, 35-30 with 15:18 left in the game. Oliver gave the Flyers a boost with five consecutive points, after a fast break lay-up and a three from the corner, to give UD a 40-31 lead with 13:58 left.
GW cut UD’s lead to five again (48-43) after a Flyer turnover led to an easy lay-in by Pellom. That five-point deficit was the closest the Colonials came as the Flyers led throughout the entire game.
Dayton will face the third-seeded Xavier Musketeers (19-11) at 9 p.m. ET on Friday, March 9 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. The two teams split the season series, with UD winning at home 87-72 on Jan. 21 and Xavier winning in Cincinnati 86-83 in overtime on Feb. 18. Friday’s quarterfinal game will be broadcast by CBS College Sports Regional and carried in the Dayton area by WHIO-TV, and heard on NewsTalk 1290 & 95.7 WHIO Radio.
