March 26, 2008

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COLUMBUS, Ohio - Despite a 20-point performance from senior Brian Roberts, the Dayton Flyers saw the 2007-08 campaign come to a close with a 74-63 loss against the Ohio State Buckeyes in quarterfinals of the 2008 MasterCard National Invitation Tournament.

Freshman Chris Wright totaled 12 points and four rebounds, while junior Charles Little added 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds as UD completed the 2007-08 campaign with a 23-11 overall record.

Roberts, who hit a shot from beyond the arc in 58 consecutive games, broke Tony Stanley's career record of 3-point field goals of 291 and moved up to fourth place on UD's all-time scoring list. He finished the game 8-of-20 shooting from the field and 4-of-9 from beyond the arc. Roberts completes his Flyer career with 1,962 points.

However in front of a raucous, sold out crowd at Value City Arena, the Flyer defense had difficulty stopping the Ohio State attack. The Buckeyes shot 53 percent from the floor and had 26 points in the paint. In the second half alone, Ohio State hit 15-of-

Although the Flyers held a 37-26 rebounding advantage, Dayton could not answer after having trouble with defensive breakdowns, turnovers and foul trouble. UD committed 16 turnovers and shot just 40 percent from the field.

UD started off well going into the half up 31-30. Roberts led the Flyers with 11 first half points while sophomore Marcus Johnson recorded seven. Little and Wright had six apiece as UD shot 39 percent from the field and hit 4-of-8 shots from beyond the arc.

But the Buckeyes opened the second half on a 13-4 run to take the lead 43-35 with 13:12 to go in the second half. Ohio State continued to pour it on and went up by 12 at 51-39 at the 10 minute mark.

With Johnson in foul trouble, the Flyers turned to a smaller lineup to counter the Buckeyes' strong outside shooting. Roberts nailed a three to cut the Ohio State lead to 55-46 with 7:27 to play.

However, that would be the closest UD would come to getting back into the contest as the Buckeyes continue their hot shooting. Ohio State extended the lead to 69-51 with 3:25 to play, putting the game out of reach for Dayton.

Johnson finished the game with nine points on 3-of-5 shooting from the floor. Senior Jimmy Binnie closed his UD career with six rebounds, while senior Andres Sandoval tallied five points and six boards.

NOTES
The NIT Quarterfinal contest was the first meeting between the two teams since 1988...the Flyers are 4-4 this season against teams from the state of Ohio...Roberts has scored in double figures 29 times this season...Roberts surpassed Jim Paxson for fourth place on the UD all-time scoring list. Paxson recorded 1,945 points in his Flyer career...Dayton has at least one block in its last 14 contests...Ohio State improves to 6-3 in the all-time series against UD...Wright scored in double figures for the first time in his last five appearances.