Dec. 1, 2004

Box Score

CHICAGO - During the pre-season, University of Dayton basketball coach Brian Gregory said "There will be a lot of games this year where we will be out-sized, out-experienced, or both." "Both," in the person of DePaul's 6-7, 245 pound senior forward Quemont Greer, was the difference Wednesday night in Chicago, as DePaul defeated Dayton 70-59 at Allstate Arena.

Greer scored a career-high 29 points to lead the Blue Demons to their third win in four games. Dayton is now 1-2 on the season.

UD led 10-9 five minutes into the game, but DePaul scored the next seven points. The Flyers worked their way back into a tie (20-20 with 8:36 left in the first half). Another DePaul spurt made it 30-26 with 2:08 to go, but Greer scored four points in the last 1:39 to send the Demons to the locker room ahead 34-26.

Those four points by Greer were nothing compared to what would come to start the second half. Greer scored DePaul's first eight points coming out of intermission, ten of his team's first 12, and 17 of its first 22. The Blue Demons led by as much as 19 as late as 7:34 left in the game (65-46), but then UD cut into that lead by holding DePaul scoreless for the next six minutes and eleven seconds.

A Trent Meacham three-pointer made the score 65-57 with 1:32 to go, but then the Demons made five straight free throws to put the game away.

Monty Scott led Dayton with 14 points and eight rebounds. A pair of freshmen were also in double digits. Norman Plummer scored 12 points and added six rebounds (five offensive) and four steals. Meacham came off the bench to score 10.

Dayton is back in action Saturday, hosting #24 (ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll) Cincinnati at UD Arena. The tip for the nationally televised (ESPN) game is 4:00 p.m. EST.

Dayton Head Coach Brian Gregory

"Before the game-and unfortunately I was right-the X factor would be how their seniors would respond after playing their team played so uninspired in losing Saturday. Greer played like a man possessed. Their size and experience really showed."

"We did some good things offensively, but they won't show up in the stat sheet because we did not knock down shots. We got good looks, but we gotta make some of them. We had some players shoot poorly, but only a couple of the shots they took were bad shots."

"We're a better team than we were a week ago. We're even better than our last game. But when you play a good team, and on the road, you have to raise the level of your game even more."

"We had the effort we want for about 36 minutes tonight. We had a four-minute stretch in the second half that really hurt us, but there's no sense hanging our heads. We've got to get back to working on what we need to improve on. Saturday's going to get here quickly."