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Award-winning columnist Tom Archdeacon — an old-school storyteller in a brand-new venue — writes about sports, the city, southwest Ohio and anything else that catches his fancy… or yours.Home > Blogs > Through the Arch > Archives > 2010 > March > 12
Friday, March 12, 2010
UD Flyers: The biggest disappointment of all
ATLANTIC CITY — In an often-good season that got riddled by disappointment, what happened to the Dayton Flyers Friday night in the Atlantic 10 Tournament quarterfinal game at Boardwalk Hall will be the worst pill of all to swallow.
UD led Xavier most of the game — and by 15 points with 10:37 left — and then self-destructed and lost 78-73. The defeat — their 12th of the season — flattened any hope they had of the NCAA Tournament and now drops then into the NIT, where they likely will vie alongside Cincinnati and maybe Wright State, too.
While Rob Lowery’s meltdown in the final 34 seconds was the most dramatic mistake — with his team down by just two, he had the ball and was trying to call time out when he retaliated to a Terrell Holloway slap at the ball with a punch that drew a technical — the blame should be shared among the Flyers.
They were beaten soundly on the boards. Their three ball-handling guards had 10 turnovers. No one could come up with a big shot down the stretch and no one could stop Holloway (22 points) and Jordan Crawford (20 points) in the final minutes.
Afterward UD star Chris Wright talked about Holloway and Crawford and said big time players make big plays down in crunch time.
UD had no one to do that Friday night.
Xavier has now beaten the Flyers seven of the nine times the two teams have faced in the post-season, including all five times they’ve met in the A-10 Tournament.
TweetThe snub and what came next
ATLANTIC CITY — You reap what you sow.
Xavier guard Terrell Holloway snubbed Dayton’s London Warren, who came over to shake hands with him during pregame player introductions Friday night in the Atlantic 10 Tournament quarterfinals. Instead the Musketeers sophomore guard took a couple of steps, pounded his own chest and then walked away.
When the game started Holloway promptly missed a three-pointer, picked up two quick fouls and had the ball stolen from him three times, once by Warren, once by Rob Lowery and finally by Chris Wright. who punctuated the theft with a fast break, razzle dazzle dunk.
Meanwhile Marcus Johnson — in a shooting slump all season for UD — has hit his first three shots including a pair of three pointers
With just over four minutes left, Johnson also blocked Holloway on a fast-break lay-up attempt.
At the half, Dayton leads 40-35. Lowery has 12 points. Wright 11 points and three blocked shots. Marcus Johnson has 10 points.
Jason Love leads Xavier with 11.
TweetDayton, Xavier and the Billiken twin
You know how they say some people look like their pets?
How about coaches who look like their mascots?
Former Temple coach John Chaney was a dead ringer for the school’s owl mascot. And Jim Baron looks a little like the Rhode Island Ram.
But for twins separated at birth, how about Saint Louis coach Rick Majerus and the Billikens mascot?
After Rhode Island over-powered Saint Louis, 63-47, Friday afternoon in their Atlantic 10 Tournament quarter-final game, Majerus gave props to the Rams, then talked about his dislike for conference tournaments.
He said it would have been no different had his team won.
He thinks players belong in school at this time: “These tournaments are about making money, but at what cost to the student-athletes?”
Waiting for the to of the Dayton Flyers-Xavier quarter-final, here’s one note:
The Musketeers and Flyers have met eight times in post-season play and Xavier has won six of those games. It beat UD in the NIT at Madison Square Garden in 1958 , once in the MCC Tournament (at UD Arena) and all four times the two schools have met in the A-10
TweetWho will be bloodied at Boardwalk Hall?
ATLANTIC CITY — I’ve heard several folks from back home express their dislike of having the Atlantic 10 tournament in Atlantic City and especially of playing the games at Boardwalk Hall.
They say it’s dark, cavernous, dingy, ancient.
As the saying goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and for me, I like this grand old place.
I love the high ceilings, the stage curtain with that large ship riding across tossing seas, and, of course, having the famed boardwalk and the ocean right outside.
The place opened in 1929 and has been home to everything from the Miss America pageant, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones to college football games, the 1964 Democratic National Convention and thousands of other events.
My favorite memories though are of the big-time prizefights I’ve covered here over the years.
This is where I watched Michael Spinks dispatch of Gerry Cooney in five rounds in 1987 and George Foreman do the same in two rounds three years later.
It’s where I saw Evander Holyfield decision Foreman in 12 and where I saw Mike Tyson at his scariest in the ring.
He was still the invincible destroyer when I saw him knock aside Larry Holmes here in 1988. Soon after, I watched him obliterate Michael Spinks here in 91 seconds, then Carl “The Truth” Williams in 93.
More than anything, Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall has always been a good place to watch somebody get punched in the nose.
Now I’m wondering who will end of bloodied here Friday night, Dayton or Xavier?
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