Flyers show off in exhibition match at UD Arena
November 03, 2009
The long-awaited start to the men's basketball season started (sort-of) with a strong overall performance against the Ferris State Bulldogs.
While it doesn't count towards the Flyers record on the season, the game still marks the first time the team has played an opponent in UD Arena since last season.
Dayton won the game 88-73 without three of its top players from last season in Chris Wright, Marcus Johnson and Rob Lowery. Lowery is still recovering from a knee injury and Wright and Johnson were simply given the night off. The Flyers still won with a dominant offensive performance in which they showed signs of shaking off the dust from the offseason.
The Flyers were able to show off their excellent depth, still playing 11 men before garbage time. Of the 11, five scored in double digits.
Dayton was paced by a scoring from a wide variety of players. Mickey Perry led the way with 16 points, while Kurt Huelsman finished with 15.
The Flyers started slow, falling behind 9-6. All six points came from Dayton big men, as Kurt Huelsman scored four points on two layups and Josh Benson hit two free throws to start the game.
Dayton then showed off its defense and was able to go on a 14-0 run to take the lead, 20-9.
The game stayed at much the same margin for the rest of the first half, with Dayton's largest lead of 16 coming with 51 seconds left. Chris Johnson christened his sophomore season with a good first half in which he scored eight of his 14 points. Johnson also finished with 9 rebounds to be named player of the game.
Flyer fans got a taste of what they were missing last season and what is to come from redshirt freshman Josh Benson. Benson brought the house down with a tip-slam follow to a Chris Johnson miss and then an alley-oop from Mickey Perry on the next possession. Benson finished with eight points, and Dayton went into the half with a 48-35 lead.
The second half was marked by more up and down play and lots of UD turnovers. On the strength of seven more points from Perry, Dayton was able to maintain its lead for most of the half.
The Bulldogs were able to pull within 10 at 77-67 with just under five minutes to play, but Huelsman hit a layup and then a free throw on the next possession to push it back out to 13.
Dayton enjoyed strong performances from sophomores Paul Williams and Luke Fabrizius. Williams scored 11 points, including three 3-pointers, while Fabrizius scored 12 with a few 3's of his own. Matt Kavanaugh's debut on Blackburn Court did not go as well. Kavanaugh was unable to score before fouling out with 5:08 left.
Despite the strong showing from UD, many of the traits that plagued them last year were still present. Dayton did not shoot well from the foul line,shooting going just 13 for 23. The Flyers also had trouble holding onto the ball, turning it over 23 times, 14 of them in the second half.
Dayton shot extremely well from the field, going 34 of 59 (57.6%).
UD will play its next and final exhibition game against Northern Kentucky Mon. November 9.
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