Wednesday, January 12, 2000

Dayton 76, Xavier 72

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Muskies lose fifth straight at UD Arena

BY MICHAEL PERRY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Aaron Brown (Steven M. Herrpich photos) | ZOOM |

        It usually comes down to the final minutes when Xavier plays at Dayton. And for the fifth consecutive year, the Flyers made the plays down the stretch for a 76-72 victory at UD Arena.

        Xavier led by one with 2:21 to go and made just one basket the rest of the way.

        “They didn't miss anything (at the end),” XU sophomore Aaron Turner said. “That hurt us. We tried to play hard and get it to gether and didn't do it. Dayton's good, especially here.”

        XU is 11-4, 2-1 in the Atlantic 10 and plays at Duquesne on Saturday. Dayton is 12-2 and 2-0 and plays at Fordham on Saturday.

        “It's far from over,” XU senior Darnell Williams said. “Thirteen more games left. We can still come out on top in the West.”

        The Musketeers, who have won 13 of the last 18 games against the Flyers, have not won at UD Arena since 1994. XU is 5-24 vs. Dayton here.

Darnell Williams | ZOOM |

        Tony Stanley hit a fade-away jumper to put Dayton ahead 67-58 — the largest lead of the night for either team — with 5:14 left.

        The Musketeers battled back with an 11-1 spurt and took a 69-68 lead on a layup by Turner with 2:21 left.

        “Coach told us they couldn't stop us down low,” Turner said. "I think Lloyd (Price) threw it to me, so I just grabbed it and took it to them.”

        “I knew we had a run in us,” Williams said. “We just had to make a stop. ... It never changes. We had a lead and let it slip away. It's frustrating. I thought we had it.”

        Edwin Young hit a short shot in the paint to put Dayton back on top, 70-69, with 1:47 remaining.

        Price forced up a jumper in the lane that missed, and he fouled Mark Ashman on the rebound. Ashman hit two free throws to make it 72-69 with 1:31 to go.

Maurice McAfee | ZOOM |

        Maurice McAfee missed a long 3, but Dayton turned over the ball.

        After two Xavier timeouts with 25 seconds left, Williams turned over the ball when Young stole it from him. Williams fouled Young, who made two free throws for a five-point lead.

        McAfee hit a 25-foot 3-pointer with 8.2 seconds left to pull the Musketeers within three, but they had to foul freshman Brooks Hall, who calmly made his two foul shots with 7.1 seconds left.

        Alvin Brown's 3-point attempt in the final seconds was blocked.

        Again, the Dayton fans stormed the court and lifted Young on their shoulders.

        It was a familiar scene.

        McAfee led Xavier with 15 points. Williams added 13, Price 11 and Turner 10.

        David Morris, who came off the bench, was named MVP of the game with 16 points and six assists. Stanley scored 14 points for UD, Ashman and Yuanta Holland 13 each and Young 12. The Flyers had 17 offensive rebounds and won the battle of the boards 38-32.

        “Part of it was what we didn't do,” XU coach Skip Prosser said. “More of it was what Dayton did.”

        XU freshman David West left the arena on a stretcher with a concussion and was taken to an area hospital for overnight observation. He was injured with about 3:23 to play; Prosser said he did not see what happened.

        The game was the 54th sellout in UD Arena's 30-year history and set an attendance record with a crowd of 13,553. The previous record of 13,528 was set March 4, 1974 when Dayton upset No.2 Notre Dame 97-82.

XAVIER (72)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Frey            30   3-6   3-4   1-7  0  4    9
Price           36  5-12   1-2   1-4  4  3   11
West            28   4-9   0-0  5-10  0  3    8
Mcafee          39   4-8   4-4   0-2  4  0   15
Williams        32  5-10   2-4   1-2  5  5   13
Brown           13   2-4   2-2   1-1  0  2    6
Turner          18   4-6   2-2   0-4  1  1   10
Butler           4   0-1   0-0   0-1  1  2    0
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TOTALS         200 27-56 14-18  9-31 15 20   72
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Percentages: FG-.482, FT-.778. 3-Point Goals:
4-11, .364 (Price 0-1, Mcafee 3-6, Williams 1-3,
Brown 0-1). Team rebounds: 1. Blocked shots: 4
(Frey 2, West 2). Turnovers: 15 (Frey 4, Mcafee
4, West 3, Williams 3, Butler). Steals: 7 (Price
2, Williams 2, Frey, Mcafee, Turner).

DAYTON (76)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Green           11   0-1   1-2   0-2  0  2    1
Hall            34   1-4   4-4   6-9  2  1    7
Ashburn         30  5-12   3-4   2-8  0  4   13
Stanley         29  5-14   3-3   2-4  4  2   14
Young           26   3-6   4-4   0-2  2  1   12
Fitz             3   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  3    0
Morris          30  5-10   2-2   2-3  6  2   16
Holland         30  6-15   1-2   3-8  2  2   13
Cooper           7   0-0   0-0   2-2  0  0    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 25-62 18-21 17-38 16 17   76
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Percentages: FG-.403, FT-.857. 3-Point Goals:
8-20, .400 (Hall 1-3, Ashburn 0-1, Stanley 1-6,
Young 2-3, Morris 4-7). Team rebounds: None.
Blocked shots: 4 (Holland 2, Ashburn, Stanley).
Turnovers: 12 (Ashburn 2, Cooper 2, Holland 2,
Morris 2, Stanley 2, Green, Hall). Steals: 7
(Stanley 3, Young 2, Ashburn, Morris).
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Xavier             37   35  -   72
Dayton             35   41  -   76
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Technical fouls: None.  A: 13,553. Officials: Jim
Burr, Tim Higgins, Larry Rose.

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