2 December, 2006
by Elliot Smilowitz
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1st |
2nd |
Final |
| Holy Cross (6-1) |
29 |
24 |
53 |
| Dayton (6-1) |
27 |
42 |
69 |
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The Dayton Flyers used a huge second half to take down Holy Cross 69-53. Dayton’s bench outscored Holy Cross’s 41-13.
The first half was fairly close most of the way. Dayton used a 9-0 run to establish a 20-11 lead, but the Crusaders responded with 12 consecutive points to grab a lead. Dayton’s Andres Sandoval missed a last-second shot, and Holy Cross went into the half with a slim 2-point lead.
With 17 minutes left in the game, Norman Plummer hit a lay-up to take a 32-30 lead. Dayton would never trail the rest of the game, and they slowly built the lead into double digits. The Flyers’ bench had 28 second-half points.
Norman Plummer led all scorers with 19. Charles Little and Marcus Johnson added 16 and 10 respectively. Keith Simmons led the Crusaders with 15 points, but shot 4-of-11 from the floor, including 0-of-3 from the arc.
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| Keys to the Game |
| Key sequence |
With 14:08 to go in the game, Holy Cross had the ball down 3. Tim Clifford missed a shot, but the Crusaders grabbed a rebound. Pat Doherty missed a three, and Holy Cross grabbed another rebound, but Keith Simmons missed another trey, and Dayton’s Plummer hit a fast-break lay-up and foul shot. Next time down the floor, Jimmy Binnie stole the ball from Clifford and hit a transition lay-up to send the Crusaders to a timeout and establish a 40-32 Flyers lead.
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| Key sign it was over |
Holy Cross cut its deficit to 11 with 3:13 left in the game. The Crusaders brought in their defensive lineup, but Brian Roberts hit a lay-up for Dayton. After Kyle Cruze missed a rushed three-point attempt, the Flyers ran time off the clock before Little dunked for a 15-point lead and just over 2 minutes left.
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| Key performance |
Plummer gave Dayton a huge lift off the bench. He led all scorers with 19 points and added 4 rebounds in 22 minutes of action.
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| Key statistic |
The Crusaders shot 27.3 percent from the floor in the second half, while Dayton shot 60.0 percent. Not surprisingly, the Flyers outscored Holy Cross by 18 in the second stanza.
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| Notes |
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Torey Thomas played 39 minutes for the Crusaders. He finished with 13 points, 4 rebounds, and hit both of his attempted shots from the arc.
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Dayton shot 11-for-13 from the free throw line in the second half to ice the game.
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After converting 5 of 10 three-point attempts in the first half, Holy Cross went 1-for-6 from long range in the second period.
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Aside from Simmons (4-of-11) and Doherty (3-of-12), the Crusaders’ most frequent shooters in this game, the rest of Holy Cross was a combined 9-of-21 from the floor.
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Holy Cross’s next game is a trip to Cameron Indoor Arena this Wednesday to face Duke.
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