Drudging through a season full of narrow losses, men's basketball coach Brian Gregory enjoyed Saturday's 46-44 victory over Saint Louis.

'Overall we had a tremendous effort to bounce back from a difficult loss on Wednesday, to play together as a team like we did, guys would stick together during crunch times when maybe a team that has gone through some of the stuff that we have would have folded,' said Gregory. 'Now the next step is to win one on the road.'

The Flyers second half collapse nearly cost them the game. UD padded its three point lead following halftime, exploding to an 11-point lead due to sophomore forward Norman Plummer picking up six points and grabbing four rebounds. The 12-1 Dayton run was quickly countered by Saint Louis.

Saint Louis edged their way back into the contest which had looked in hand for the Flyers. Billikens guard Kevin Lisch was a key contributor in the Saint Louis comeback. The freshman hit the 3-point shot which tied the game at 44 with 32 seconds remaining in the contest. Following the tying basket, UD called a timeout and hoped the play they called would lead to the fourth consecutive victory on Blackburn Court.

'We made the decision at the end to go to Brian,' said Gregory. 'They were doing such a good job on some of the ball-screen stuff, they just gobbled up our guards, they were so big, so we just isolated Brian and just said, 'play.' We've been here before, and we're going to use our guy in that situation, and he made a great play, really exploded into his shot, and when he does that, he doesn't miss his shot very often.'

Although Jimmy Binnie was open on the far wing, the play called for Roberts to make his own decision and, when the defender slipped, the sophomore guard fired a shot that tickled the bottom of the twine.

However, three seconds remained on the clock. Gregory inserted defensive-minded senior Marques Bennett in the lineup . Saint Louis head coach Brad Sodenberg designed a play to give the ball to his hot-shooting freshman Lisch. The freshman headed up the right side of the court but his attempt fell off the glass wide of the basket.

For the Flyers, Brian Roberts led the way with 14 points in 35 minutes of action. Norman Plummer recorded a double-double picking up 10 points and grabbing 13 boards.

The Billikens were led by Kevin Lisch who added 14 points and went 4-6 from three-point-range. A high school teammate of UD's Norman Plummer at Hargrave Military Academy, Tommie Liddell contributed 13 points in the loss.

After the buzzer sounded, the Flyers left the court having been on the winning side of a close game. UD's next game is Saturday at La Salle.