March 20, 2008

DAYTON, Ohio - Dayton senior Brian Roberts scored 21 points to lead third-seeded Dayton to a 66-57 win over No. 6 Cleveland State in the first round of the NIT at UD Arena on Wednesday.

The Flyers (22-10) advanced to play at No. 2 Illinois State on Monday, March 24 at 7:00pm (ESPNU). UD shot 23-of-42 (55 percent) from the floor, while holding the Vikings to just 28 percent.

Three Dayton players joined Roberts as double-figure scorers. Sophomore Kurt Huelsman tallied 12 points while senior Andres Sandoval and sophomore Marcus Johnson each added 11.

Cedric Jackson led the Vikings with 11 points.

Dayton jumped out to an early 6-0 behind three-pointers from Sandoval and Roberts forcing a Cleveland State timeout with 17:55 to play in the first half.

The Flyers started the game 5-of-8 from the floor, but Cleveland State (22-13) responded with a hot start of its own. The Vikings connected on 7-of-13 to begin the game. A layup and free throw by Joe Davis at the 10:52 mark gave CSU its first lead of the evening, 18-15. The foul shot capped off a 9-2 Viking run.

Cleveland State held the lead for nearly six minutes, but Roberts kept Dayton close by connecting on five of his first six attempts from the floor, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. With 5:54 left to play, a jumper by Roberts trimmed the CSU lead to 24-23.

Roberts gave the lead back to Dayton with 4:28 left with a pair of free throws. The foul shots were part of a 9-0 Dayton run that gave the Flyers a 32-26 advantage with under 3:00 remaining.

The Flyers ended the half on a 15-4 run in the final 4:53, and took a 38-30 lead into the locker room. Roberts led all scorers at the break with 15 points.

Dayton shot 65 percent in the first half, and picked up in the second half right where it left off. The Flyers extended their lead to 45-30 with 18:13 left to play behind a blistering 7-0 run that was capped off by a Jimmy Binnie three-pointer from the corner.

UD was able to shake off a 6-0 spurt from the Vikings by responding with six unanswered points of their own to keep the lead at 15 points, 51-36 with 12:03 remaining.

The Flyers continued to work the ball into Huelsman and successful executed the inside-out game. With 7:44 left to play, Huelsman kicked the ball out to Marcus Johnson who buried a three-pointer and put UD up 59-45. Huelsman had three assists on the day to go along with his 12 points and seven rebounds.

A late surge by the Vikings pulled them to within six points with under 4:00 remaining, 61-55. That score would stand until the 1:18 mark when Roberts sank two free throws in a one-and-one situation.

The Vikings missed 5-of-6 shots down the stretch and UD held on for the 66-57 victory.

This season marks Dayton's 21st appearance in the postseason NIT and its first since 2001-02. The Flyers won the tournament in 1962 and 1968, and have been runners-up five times.

Massachusetts 80, Stephen F. Austin 60
Senior Dante Milligan poured in a career-high 24 points as he led UMass to a 80-60 victory over Stephen F. Austin, in the NIT First Round at the Mullins Center on Tuesday night. The Minutemen (22-10) advance to the second round of the NIT for the second year in a row, where they will face Akron on Saturday at Noon. The game will air on ESPN.

UMass won an NIT game for the second year in a row, marking the first time UMass has won NIT games in back-to-back seasons ever. The last time UMass won back-to-back postseason games came in the 1994-95 and 1995-96 season when they won games in the NCAA Tournament.

Milligan had an all-around effort in addition to his scoring prowess as he had nine rebounds and seven blocked shots. Senior Gary Forbes, the A-10 Player of the Year, had 19 points while Etienne Brower added eight points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Ricky Harris tallied 16 and Chris Lowe had seven and seven assists.

The Southland Conference Player of the Year Josh Alexander led the Lumberjacks with 21.

UMass scored the most points against SFA of any Lumberjack opponent all season. The Jacks came into the game as the nation's second-best defensive team, allowing just 55.2 points per game. Lamar scored 75 against SFA back on Jan. 17.

The Minutemen surged ahead of SFA with a 25-5 run early in the second half as UMass led 60-39 with 9:33 left in the game on a Harris fastbreak 3-pointer.

UMass reached the 55-point mark (the amount SFA allowed per game entering the NIT) with a Forbes lay-up with 11:30 left in the game. That gave UMass a 55-39 lead.

Creighton 74, Rhode Island 73
Cavel Witter hit a 3-point shot with 3.2 seconds left to finish Creighton's comeback from a 17-point deficit in the second half and give the Bluejays a 74-73 victory over Rhode Island in the first round of the NIT on Tuesday night.

The Bluejays (22-10) had to overcome double-digit deficits twice in the second half before advancing to a second-round game against the winner of Wednesday night's game between San Diego State and Florida. Rhode Island (21-12) lost eight of its final nine games.

Creighton still trailed 70-58 with 3:14 left, but the Rams wouldn't score another field goal. P'Allen Stinnett hit a 3 and then made a steal and layup and Booker Woodfox drilled back-to-back 3s to make it 72-69 with a minute left. Witter's two free throws made it a one-point game.

Marquis Jones made one of two free throws with 11.5 seconds left to put the Rams up by two points.

On the final play, Stinnett moved toward the basket, then kicked the ball out to Witter on the left side. Witter launched the winning 3--his only field goal of the night on eight attempts.

Stinnett and Woodfox each had 22 points, with Stinnett scoring 18 in the second half. Witter, who made 7-of-8 free throws, had 10 points.

Will Daniels led Rhode Island with 16 points. Jimmy Baron added 13 and Lamonte Ulmer 12.

Nebraska 67, Charlotte 48
Ade Dagunduro scored 15 points to lead Nebraska, and the Cornhuskers used tough defense to pull away from Charlotte in a 67-48 victory in the first round of the NIT on Wednesday night.

"Nebraska played really well," Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz said. "They're really aggressive. We practiced and tried to be ready. We missed some pretty good shots early and then we got pretty frustrated due to their defense. Our whole plan was to keep the game close because we're a really good second-half team when we're down five or six, we've been able to come back all year. We weren't able to do that, part of that was us but part of that was Nebraska - give them credit. They played extremely well and they were the better team tonight. They deserved the win." The Huskers (20-12) advance to a second-round game Monday at Mississippi, which defeated UC Santa Barbara 83-68.

Nebraska led by 12 points at halftime and by as much as 26 late in the second half against the Atlantic 10's 49ers (20-14).

Charlotte scored just one field goal the first seven minutes of the second half. The Huskers outscored the 49ers 14-4 over that stretch, taking a 47-25 lead on Aleks Maric's three-point play with 12:28 left.

The Huskers built a big first-half lead by holding Charlotte to five points in the last 8:34 of the half. The 49ers shot just 31 percent.

Jay-R Strowbridge added 10 points for the Huskers, who are making their 15th NIT appearance.

Maric, who scored nine points, moved past Jaron Boone into fifth place on Nebraska's career scoring chart with 1,612 points. Maric's game-high 10 rebounds gives him 1,005 for his career. He needs 10 more to tie Venson Hamilton's single-season record of 335. Kansas' Nick Collison and Missouri's Arthur Johnson are the two other Big 12 players to post 1,600 points and 1,000 rebounds.

Lamont Mack led Charlotte with 13 points. Charlie Coley added 12 for the 49ers. Season scoring leader Leemire Goldwire, averaging 19 points, was held to six on 2-of-13 shooting. He came into the game with 126 3-pointers, but he made only 2-of-9 from long range.