March 19, 2008

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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 time to be announced on Thursday. ISU defeated Utah State, 61-57 on Wednesday in Normal, IL.

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.