The Dayton Flyers run in the 2008 Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Tournament ended in the quarterfinals losing to #10 Xavier, 74-65. Marcus Johnson led UD with a career-high 26 points, making 5-8 shots, including three treys and converted on a career-high 13 free throws. Brian Roberts added 13 but the Flyers shot 42% from the field, made 6-19 from three-point range and went 17-28 from the free throw line. Dayton falls to 21-10 overall while Xavier advances to the A-10 semifinals as they eliminate UD in the quarterfinals for the second straight year and have won six straight games over the Flyers.

Josh Duncan led the Musketeers with 16 points; one of five players in double figures. CJ Anderson added 15 while Stanley Burrell scored 13 points. Drew Lavender had 12 points and six assists while Derek Brown had 11 points and team-high nine rebounds. Xavier improves to 27-5 as they defeat Dayton for the third time this season, accomplishing the same feat they did last year.

UD started the game taking a 10-4 lead as Roberts scored four points, London Warren made a layup and Jimmy Binnie knocked down a three-pointer. Xavier came back to tie the game at 12-12 on a trey by Lavender but the Flyers responded with five consecutive points by Johnson, including a three-pointer to take a 17-12 advantage with 11:58 left in the first half.

Xavier went on a 13-0 run to take a 25-17 lead. It got started by a foul shot by Jason Love and two more by Anderson. Duncan gave the Musketeers the lead, 18-17 with a three. He extended it to 20-17 with two foul shots. Lavender increased the lead to six points with trey and Brown stole the ball from Andres Sandoval and threw down a slam to cap the Musketeer run, forcing Dayton to call a timeout with 8:54 to go in the half.

Johnson came back and scored four straight points for Dayton to cut Xavier's lead to 25-21 before the Musketeers got another three-pointer by Lavender to improve their lead to 28-21. Burrell extended its lead to 10, 31-21, with a trey. Xavier got two more foul shots to up their lead to their biggest of the game, 33-21 with 3:06 remaining in the half.

The Musketeers still led by 12, 35-23 with 2:22 until halftime before the Flyers scored the final six points of the first half. It started with a foul shot by Mickey Perry and Johnson converted on a three-point play with 1:46 in the first half. Warren's tip-in cut Xavier's halftime lead to 35-29.

Johnson opened the second half with a three-pointer to cut the Musketeer lead to 35-32 but Burrell responded with a jumper to increase their lead to 37-32. Johnson got fouled at the other end and made one of two free throws while Charles Little's sliced further into the Xavier's lead, 37-35.

Anderson and Brown scored for the Musketeers to increase their lead to 41-35. Roberts and Binnie each knocked down three-pointers to tie the game at 41-41. B-Rob gave UD the lead, 43-41, with a jumper and Hueslman increased it to 44-41 by making one of two free throws with 13:34 to play.

Duncan tied the game at 44-44 with a trey but Sandoval came back and made a layup to reclaim the lead for Dayton, 46-44. Anderson was fouled at the other end for Xavier and made other free throws to tie the game at 46-46. Duncan gave the Musketeers the lead for good with a jumper and Burrell's three-pointer increased it to 51-46 with 11:04 remaining in the contest.

Xavier continued to build its lead in the midst of a 14-2 run as Duncan knocked down another trey while Anderson made a layup and Brown converted on two foul shots to make it a 58-48 Musketeer advantage. Johnson made four straight foul shots to get the Flyers to within six, 58-52 with 7:57 to play.

Dayton had a chance to cut further into lead at the foul line, but Kurt Huelsman missed two free throws, Binnie made one of two foul shots and Roberts missed two free throws; missing five of six foul shots during a three minute stretch while Xavier led 63-53 with just over four minutes left.

UD got to within seven, 66-59 with 1:15 left as Johnson made a three-pointer and even cut to six, 69-63 on a layup by Mickey Perry with 36 seconds but Xavier finished the game by making 8-10 free throws and advancing to the Atlantic 10 semifinals. Dayton loses in the quarterfinal round for the third time in the last four years and will find out soon when their next game is in the postseason.

by John Tisdell