By Mark Schmetzer
Enquirer contributor

DAYTON - The Miami RedHawks improved over their last visit to University of Dayton Arena.

Unfortunately for them, Keith Waleskowski made up for his last game against them and the Flyers held on for a 67-61 victory over Miami Wednesday night.

The Flyers senior, who had just six points and six rebounds in Dayton's 78-63 loss to the RedHawks at Miami last season, scored 15 in the first half and 19 in the game to go along with nine rebounds.

"He does everything," Miami coach Charlie Coles said. "I told him after the game that I wished I could get those five years back. He came down to our campus a couple of times, but I wouldn't know a basketball player if I saw one. If I had known, I would have offered him a scholarship."

The Flyers, who are celebrating their basketball centennial, improved to 5-0 for the first time since they opened the 1999-2000 season with eight consecutive wins. They also extended their lead in their series with Miami to 63-59.

Miami (2-1), which scored only 23 points in its last visit to UD Arena in 2001, missed out on its first 3-0 start since the 1998-1999 Sweet 16 team opened with four consecutive wins.

Senior guard Juby Johnson led the RedHawks with a career-high 28 points, two more than the 26 he scored on two previous occasions. His layup with 10:18 left in the first half gave him 1,001 career points, making him the 28th player in Miami history to score 1,000.

Sophomore guard Josh Hausfeld added 14 points for Miami, including four 3-pointers in the second half, when Miami fought back from a 17-point deficit.

UD enjoyed a height advantage with the 6-foot-8 Waleskowski and 7-foot senior Sean Finn, and the Flyers tried to exploit it by pounding the ball inside.

Waleskowski, who was named Most Valuable Player of the Maui Tournament won by the Flyers, made it pay off. He made back-to-back layups to spark an 11-2 run that left the Flyers leading 27-18 with six minutes left in the first half. Waleskowski scored 12 of his 15 first-half points in the last 8:31 to lead Dayton to a 41-24 halftime lead.

The RedHawks, who were shooting 40.8 percent from the field going into the game, didn't help themselves by missing 10 of their last 11 shots and shooting 23.3 percent (7-for-30) from the field in the first half. UD sank seven of its first nine shots and 68.4 percent (13-for-19) from the field while taking control.

The RedHawks cut the deficit to three points twice in the last three minutes, but Finn sank a free throw and a layup to keep them at bay. He and guards Ramod Marshall and Mark Jones all added 12 points each for the Flyers.

"Marshall was the guy in the second half," Coles said. "Waleskowski is their guy, but they're not 1-2. They're 1-1. I thought we played pretty good inside defense in the second half, but I knew Marshall would hit those big shots."

Miami opens its Mid-American Conference schedule with a game at Western Michigan at 2 p.m. Saturday. The RedHawks return to Millett Hall to face Xavier at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Miami	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Johnson	40	10	20	5	5	8	0	3	1	28
Horace	14	0	5	5	6	5	2	3	1	5
Van Buskirk	21	1	1	0	0	2	4	4	0	2
Hausfeld	30	5	10	0	0	1	2	4	1	14
Mason	39	1	9	1	3	4	1	3	3	4
Seals	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
Schenke	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	2	0
Hatcher	11	0	1	2	3	0	2	1	1	2
St. Clair	8	0	1	0	0	1	1	3	0	0
Peavy	24	3	7	0	0	6	2	2	1	6
Totals	200	20	55	13	17	28	14	27	10	61

Team rebounds - 1.

Dayton	M	FG	Att	FT	Att	R	A	F	TO	TP
Scott	20	1	3	3	4	2	1	2	1	5
Waleskowski	36	7	11	5	7	9	0	1	4	19
Finn	20	4	6	4	6	4	0	2	0	12
Marshall	28	3	5	5	6	2	4	2	3	12
Jones	34	5	8	1	2	4	1	4	2	12
Williams	20	1	3	0	0	2	4	1	0	2
White	20	0	1	4	5	1	1	1	2	4
Iguodala	12	0	1	1	2	5	0	1	1	1
Cripe	10	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	0
Totals	200	21	38	23	32	32	11	15	14	67

Team rebounds - 1.

Miami	24	37	- 61
Dayton	41	26	- 67

3-pointers - MU 8-21 (Johnson 3-6, Horace 0-1, Hausfeld 4-8, Mason 1-3, Seals 0-1, St. Clair 0-1, Peavy 0-1), UD 2-6 (Scott 0-1, Marshall 1-2, Jones 1-2, White 0-1). Technicals - Dayton: Jones. Officials - Roberts, Jones, Clark. Attendance - 12,798.