April 3, 2008
SAN ANTONIO, TX - A pair of seniors shined for Dayton in the ESPN College Three-Point Shooting Championships on Thursday evening at St. Mary's University. Brian Roberts finished fourth in the Midas Touch Men's Three-Point Shooting Championship while Kiki Lund tied for sixth in the State Farm Women's Three-Point Shooting Championship, which aired nationwide on ESPN.
The University of Dayton was the only school to have a performer in both the men's and women's competitions.
Brian Roberts led all performers in the men's competition in the opening round with 22 points. He advanced along with Derrick Low of Washington State (20 points), Darnell Harris of La Salle (19 points) and Chris Lofton of Tennessee (19 points). The senior from Toledo, Ohio hit all five "money balls" in the first round.
Roberts had the advantage of letting the other three competitors perform first, but could not take advantage as he tallied just 14 points behind Low's 15 as well as Lofton and Harris which advanced to the Final with 18 and 17 points respectively. Harris eventually won the competition 16 points in the final round, which was five better than Lofton.
Kiki Lund tied for sixth in the women's competition after scoring 10 points in the opening round. Lund was edged out by four other competitors in the first round including Georgia Tech's Chioma Nnamaka, Ohio State's Marscilla Parker, Texas State's Joyce Ekworomadu and DePaul's Allie Quigley.
Roberts led the UD men to a 23-11 record. The Flyers started out 14-1 and were ranked as high as 14th until injuries derailed the season. Team eventually re-invented itself and played its way back onto the bubble, and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NIT. A constant was Roberts who led Dayton in scoring (18.4), three-pointers (100-220, .455), free throws (111-129, .860) and minutes (34.7).
Roberts ended his career in the UD Top Ten in 10 statistical categories, including #1 in three-pointers made (293) and 3-pt. FG% (.441, 293-665).
He was a three-time All-Atlantic 10 selection, and was a finalist for the Wooden, Naismith, Cousy and Lowes Senior CLASS Awards.
Lund was 13th in the country this season in 3-pt. FG% (.429, 70-163). She averaged 8.1 points a game. She was part of a dramatic turnaround for coach Jim Jabir's program. The team had won just three games the year before Lund and her classmates came to UD, but the Flyers were 25-9 this season, reaching the WNIT and receiving the first AP Top 25 votes in school history. That's the best improvement by any of this year's graduating classes in the country.
Her career .392 (154-393) 3-pt. FG% is the Dayton record, as are her 70 treys this season.
