By Scott McAdams
Special to FOX Sports Ohio
ATLANTIC CITY, NJ - Another exciting game in the Atlantic 10 Championship and the Dayton Flyers pulled it out in the end when they beat the Saint Joseph's Hawks 64-61 in Atlantic City.
It was easy to tell the Dayton Flyers came to play when they forced St. Joseph's to launch their first six shots from outside the paint. The defensive effort set the tone early on.
Josh Benson's ability to hold the opposing big men off the glass and send the ball up court led to some early transition points. Chris Wright also did a good job finishing on the offensive end in the early going.
A season long theme, though, has been this Dayton team living and dying by the long ball. Chris Johnson and Brandon Spearman each put one in from deep to establish the early 21-12 lead.
Then just when the Hawks wanted to creep back into it Juwan Staten took one coast-to-coast off a steal and hit another tough lay-up on the following possession to keep the lead at 9; 27-18 Dayton led with 2:36 remaining in the first half.
Charoy Bentley and Carl Jones remained tough to lead the Hawks backcourt. Bentley hit a deep three-pointer and Jones took one to the rack in the final seconds to bring St. Joseph's within four at halftime.
Despite shooting just 31% from the field, the Hawks only turned the ball over three times to keep it close.
Dayton went into the break leading 28-24.
The Hawks came out hot in the second half as Idris Hillard and Jones each hit shots from behind the arc. Saint Joseph's took their first lead of the half 32-30.
Wright responded with an and-one followed by a Johnson three-pointer on ensuing possessions to reclaim the lead for the Flyers. With 17 minutes remaining Dayton led St. Joseph's 36-32.
Johnson's consistent shooting continued as he nailed another shot from deep and put back an errant shot by Staten to extend the Flyer lead to 42-36 at the first media timeout of the second half.
Coming off a huge performance on Friday, Luke Fabrizius of the Flyers, was a non-factor on Saturday afternoon and picked up his third foul midway through the second half.
Wright and Johnson, the unspoken leaders of this team carried the load for Dayton.
Two slam dunks in transition by Wright, both assisted by Josh Parker, forced Saint Joseph's head coach, Phil Martelli, to burn a timeout. Dayton extended the lead to 49-41 with 10:40 remaining.
Poor shooting and some unforced turnovers were detrimental to the Hawks who somehow found a way to stay in the game. With 6:46 remaining the Flyers led 54-45.
For a team with only 11 wins all season the Hawks showed their grit in the stretch run. Jones hit some tough shots and at the final media timeout Dayton's lead was down to 5; 60-55 with 2:47 remaining.
Wright turned to his old ways in a crucial possession and traveled to give the ball back to the Hawks with just over a minute remaining.
A big stop on the defensive end and two free throws for Johnson extended the lead to seven.
C.J. Aiken responded with an off-balance three for the Hawks to make the score 62-58 with 34 seconds remaining.
Johnson got to the line again but missed the front end of a one-and-one.
Jones stormed down the court and went hard to the basket where he was fouled. He went one of two from the stripe to cut the lead to three.
Paul Williams got his number called this time when he was fouled and hit just one of two to bring the lead back to four. 64-60 Dayton led with 11 seconds remaining.
It turned into a chess match from the charity stripe when Langston Galloway was fouled with eight seconds remaining and he hit both to cut the lead to two.
When Josh Parker had his opportunity to put the game away, he could only convert on one of two and the Hawks had one last shot. Dayton was up three with five seconds remaining.
Probably the sloppiest three seconds of basketball were still to come. Each team forced the other to turn the ball over on in-bounds plays and Hillard launched a prayer from half-court.
When it sailed over the backboard the Dayton Flyers confirmed their ticket to the 2011 Atlantic 10 Championship where they will face the winner of Temple vs. Richmond.
The Flyers will try and win the title for the first time since it has been played in Atlantic City. Their last A-10 trophy came in 2003 when it was hosted at UD Arena in Dayton.
