DAYTON -- If James Naismith, basketball's inventor/creator, were sitting in the upper arena at the University of Dayton Wednesday night, he would have turned to the person seated next to him and asked, "What is that they are doing down there?"
For the most part, basketball it wasn't. It was if somebody said, "Put 10 guys on a rectangular surface, roll out a big brown ball and tell them, ‘Wrestle, gouge and scratch for that ball, kick it around, and once in a while try to put it into that orange thing hanging on the window."
It was Team UFC, Team Mixed Martial Arts. It was a dark alley scrum. The lane was Battle Central. Venture near the basket and duck before an elbow dislocated your jaw.
On one play, officials called a flagrant intentional foul and a double technical.
At another point, Dayton's Flyers had a four-on-one fast break — and didn't score.
After trailing most of the way, Team University of Dayton found a way down the stretch to catch, pass and pull away from Team Charlotte, 75-65, in an Atlantic 10 scuffle.
Amazingly, through all the torn jerseys and mussed hair, the game was decided during a 90-second period during which 6-foot-6 senior forward Chris Johnson rose above the chaos to become a ballerina in ball shorts.
The Flyers never led in the first half and didn't take a lead until a three-pointer by Josh Parker gave UD a 38-35 lead with 16 ½ minutes left.
But they couldn't pull away — until Johnson, known as C.J., scored eight straight points in a 90-second span.
The Flyers actually trailed, 51-49, with 8 ½ minutes remaining. Johnson hit a three with 7:43 left for a 52-51 lead, but Charlotte center Chris Baswell, a behemoth under the boards, regained the lead with a basket in the lane en route to 27 points.
It was still in doubt with 5 ½ minutes left, the Flyers up by 56-55. In the next 90 seconds, Johnson hit a three, a two and another three to push UD to a 64-57 lead and the Flyers pulled away.
"It was an unorthodox game, one without a lot of flow," said UD coach Archie Miller. "We basically played without Kevin Dillard the whole game."
Dillard, UD's point guard who directs traffic like a dedicated school crossing guard, was foul-saddled most of the game and played only 17 minutes. But he still contributed 13 points before fouling out after taking a physical pounding on the floor.
"We had some guys step up in his absence," Miller said, referring to bench performers Josh Parker (eight points) and Devin Oliver (14 points, six rebounds).
The show, though, belonged to Johnson — 22 points, nine rebounds, two blocked shots.
Defensively, the Flyers shut down Charlotte three-point shooter Javarris Barnett, holding him to one for five from Threeland.
"But C.J. really broke the game open in the second half with some senioresque plays," said Miller.
The mystery was how Johnson was so open for his three game-crushing shots.
"Our execution was really good on some things," said Miller. "Charlotte is really big and we did a really good job on some ball screening stuff. With Dillard out, we're not as effective offensively so I felt we needed to get some action with movement off the ball. Our guys screened well, cut well and delivered the ball to C.J. on time."
Johnson has averaged nearly 17 points over the last five games and Miller isn't surprised.
"He has been playing really hard and we can never say after a game, ‘He didn't play hard,'" said Miller. "You are looking at a guy who plays almost 40 minutes and dominates his position on the rebound charts. And now he is starting to score a little bit more."
Johnson said it is a matter of learning a new system put in by his first-year coach after three years in former coach Brian Gregory's methodology.
As for the game's physicality, Johnson said, "It's UD Arena, man. Everybody in the conference comes in here and tries to play hard. We overfought it and kept our heads through the rought stuff and won the game.
"They tried to frustrate us and intimidate us, but we stuck together and kept our heads," Johnson added. "We told each other, ‘Let's stay together and grind it out.'"
As for his three game-turning baskets, Johnson said, "I was surprised to be so open, but my teammates were confident that if they got me the ball, I'd knock ‘em down. My teammates did a good job of finding me when I spotted up."
"Any time you have a new coach and a new offense you will have some struggles," he said. "After three years doing it one way, I've just listened to Archie and the assistant coaches to understand how the offense and defense is being played and it is a matter of executing it."
Oliver is not a power forward offensively, but Miller utilized him there for defensive purposes.
"He's not a power forward offensively, but we're giving him an opportunity to defend some power forwards because he has some length and quickness. That gave us some defensive opportunities."
And Oliver added some offensive punch, too, with 14 points in 31 minutes.
"Yes, he added some offense," said Miller. "It's amazing when a guy gets an opportunity and has some confidence and believes in himself what happens. He played his best game of the season."
The Flyers are 16-9, 6-5 in the Atlantic 10, while Charlotte dropped to 12-12 and 4-7, with UD visiting Xavier Saturday for an important match-up.
