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Saturday, February 11, 2012
Looking back at Flyers’ win at Fordham
Never has a win over Fordham felt so good.
The Rams are rebuilding with second-year coach Tom Pecora, and they’ll become one of the better Atlantic 10 teams, I believe, under him eventually. He produced big winners at Hofstra before taking over.
But they came into the game tied with Rhode Island for the fewest wins in the league with two, and UD had won five straight and 10 of 11 in the series.
But when you’re lugging a four-game losing streak into a road trip, you’d be happy to beat an intramural team from MIT.
The Flyers prevailed, 72-70, in overtime and needed this one in the worst way. Hard to believe they hadn’t experienced a victory since beating Xavier on Jan. 21. That seems like eons ago.
They trailed for much of the game, and they looked like they were in serious trouble. But Chris Johnson produced his fourth double-double of the season with 22 points and 13 rebounds. He was a warrior.
And Josh Parker finally chimed in with 14 points, including some of the biggest baskets of the game.
The Flyers gave up 18 offensive rebounds, and they didn’t really have an answer for forward Chris Gaston, who was averaging a double-double and finished with 23 points and eight rebounds. But the Rams’ young guards made some questionable decisions … especially at the end of the game.
The Rams had a possession at the end of regulation to win and another at the end of the OT to either tie or win it on a 3-pointer. They failed each time. In hindsight, they probably needed to get the ball in Gaston’s hands, but he didn’t touch it either time.
By winning, the Flyers positioned themselves to still salvage something out of the season. At 15-9 overall, they have six league games left and then the conference tourney. They’ll be underdogs in several remaining games (at Xavier, at Duquesne, at Richmond), but they won’t be an easy team to beat if they can get their outside attack going again.
Paul Williams had a four-point play, making a 3 and an “and-one” free throw. I thought that would get him going.
It didn’t.
He finished 2-for-8 from the field. The Flyers need him to regain his shooting form in a hurry. If he does, UD could be tough to handle the rest of the way.
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TweetFlyers end losing streak at Fordham
Good-bye, losing streak.
Dayton shook off a four-game skid by rallying for a 72-70 overtime win against Fordham at noisy Rose Hill Gym today.
Trailing by four with 2:22 to go in regulation, the Flyers (15-9, 5-5 Atlantic 10) cut it to two on a Chris Johnson put-back and then tied it on a drive by Kevin Dillard with 19.3 seconds left. Fordham called timeout with 13.6 seconds to go, but Devon McMillan’s leaner missed at the buzzer.
Luke Fabrizus gave UD a two-point lead in the OT by converting a one-and-one with 2:28 left.
Josh Parker was hacked on a rebound and made two foul shots at 1:01 for a four-point bulge.
The Rams picked up a pair of free throws, blocked a Kevin Dillard drive and had 20 seconds to try to tie or win the game.
Guard Branden Frazier missed a drive, and Johnson skied for the rebound, but he somersaulted over a teammate and was called with traveling with 3.5 seconds to go.
The Rams, though, threw away the in-bounds pass, and Josh Parker picked up the loose ball and dribbled out the clock.
Falling behind 49-45 with 11:40 to go, the Flyers ripped off seven points in a row, five of them from Parker. His 3-pointer with 7:30 left gave UD a 52-49 lead, its biggest in regulation.
Fordham (9-14, 2-8) nudged ahead 58-55 with 4:30 left on a deep 3-pointer by freshman guard Bryan Smith, the current A-10 rookie of the week.
The Rams grabbed a four-point lead with 2:22 to go on another 3-pointer by Smith. Johnson had his fourth double-double of the season with 22 points 13 rebounds for the Flyers, who started 1-of-15 from the field and trailed by as many as 11 in the first half. Parker had 14.
The Rams’ Chris Gaston scored 15 of his23 points in the first half. He’s the only player in the league averaging a double-double (16.1 points and 10.2 rebounds). He finished with eight boards.
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