The Dayton Flyers played in their first NIT game since 2002 and took advantage of the opportunity as they beat Cleveland State, 66-57 in the First Round of the NIT at UD Arena. Brian Roberts scored 21 points, 15 of them in the first half. UD improves to 22-10 overall and will play in the Second Round of the NIT on Monday, March 24th at Illinois State.

Along with B-Rob's 21 points, Kurt Huelsman added 12 points, including eight in the first half. He also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. Andres Sandoval and Marcus Johnson each scored 11 points. Dayton made 55% of their shots and outrebounded Cleveland State, 33-26.

Cedrick Jackson led the Vikings with 11 points on 3-10 shooting while D-Aundray Brown and Joe Davis each added 10 points. J'Nathan Bulluck, Cleveland State's leading scorer at 15.0 ppg, was held to eight points. Dayton limited Cleveland State to 39% shooting.

UD started the game with back-to-back three-pointers by Sandoval and Roberts to take a 6-0 lead. Johnson extended the lead to 8-2 with two free throws but Cleveland State came back with a layup by George Tandy and three by Jackson to cut it 8-7.

The Flyers had a 15-12 advantage after a jumper by Charles Little. Dunbar's Norris Cole tied the game at 15-15 with a trey. Moments later, Davis' three-point play gave the Vikings its first lead of the game, 18-15 with 10:52 left in the first half. Cleveland State maintained the lead through the lead for a five minute stretch at 26-23 with 5:21 remaining until halftime on a jumper by Cole.

Johnson's layup cut the Viking lead to one, 26-25. A few moments later, Roberts got fouled and made both foul shots to put UD on top, 27-26. That's when Huelsman and Sandoval scored the rest of Dayton's points in the first half. It got started when Huelsman converted on a three-point play with 3:47 to play in the half to give the Flyers a 30-26 lead.

Sandoval stole the ball from Kevin Francis and drove for a layup to increase Dayton's lead to 32-26. Following a jumper by Renard Fields, Huelsman hit two foul shots to allow the Flyers to maintain a six-point lead, 34-28. Sandoval's jumper extended UD's advantage to eight, 36-28. After Fields scored for Cleveland State, Huelsman's layup gave the Flyers a 38-30 lead heading into the locker room.

Roberts began the second half by hitting a jumper just 12 seconds after halftime to go up, 40-30. Huelsman made a layup and Binnie's three gave Dayton its largest lead of the game, 45-30 with 18:17 remaining.

The Vikings responded with six straight points on two foul shots each by Brown and Jackson while Brown made a layup to cut UD's lead to 45-36. The Flyers countered with six straight points of their own on jumpers by Johnson and B-Rob, as well as a layup by Mickey Perry to go back up by 15, 51-36.

Davis made a trey to allow Cleveland State to get within nine, 52-43 with just over 10 minutes to play. Binnie's layup put UD back up by double digits and Huelsman's jumper gave the Flyers a 56-43 advantage. Bulluck made a foul shot and a layup to cut the Dayton lead to 10, 56-46. Johnson came back and buried a three-pointer to give Dayton a 59-46 lead.

The Vikings got the deficit back to single digits, 59-50, on a basket by Bulluck. After a Dayton timeout, Sandoval buried a jumper to extend UD's advantage to 61-50 with 5:39 remaining. Cleveland State made one last push by scoring five consecutive points. It got started on a free throw by Bulluck to cut the Dayton lead to 10, 61-51. Baskets by Jackson and Bulluck allowed the Vikings to trim the Flyer advantage to six, 61-55 with 3:50 to go.

Both teams went scoreless for over two-and-half minutes as UD maintained a six point lead, 61-55 with 1:18 to play. Roberts got fouled and went to free throw line for a one-and-one. He made both foul shots to increase Dayton's lead to 63-55. Cleveland State had a chance to slice into the lead at the foul line but Jackson missed two foul shots with 1:10 remaining.

Sandoval helped iced the game for the Flyers with two free throws with 34 seconds to play and Johnson hit one of two free throws to score the final points of the game for UD.

Dayton will play in the Second Round of the NIT on Monday night at Illinois State in Normal, IL.

by John Tisdell