Dec. 11, 2004

Box Score

DAYTON - Freshman Norman Plummer recorded his first career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds as the University of Dayton men's basketball team pulled away for a 79-60 win over Texas Southern University (2-4), Saturday night at the UD Arena. Sophomore forward Monty Scott led the Flyers (3-3) with 18 points.

Senior guard Mark Jones added 14 points for UD while junior guard Warren Williams chipped in eight points. The Tigers were led by Sean Walker's 17 points. Mike Sneed recorded a double-double for the visitors with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

The Flyers nailed their first two three-point attempts to open up to an 11-7 lead. Dayton stretched the lead to 25-17 thanks to seven early points from Scott. After TSU scored the next four points to pull within four, sophomore center Nick Stafford answered with a dunk after a missed free throw and Williams drained a three to put UD back up nine.

Dayton led by as many as 13 in the first half, as Scott led the Flyers into the break with 17 points. Dayton was 8-of-15 from three-point range in the first half and took a 48-36 lead into intermission.

In the second half, UD opened with a three from Jones and held Texas Southern to just one field goal over the next four minutes. Dayton maintained a 12-point margin for most of the second half as the Flyers rotated in 10 players and pulled away in the final minutes.

The Flyers held the Tigers to just 23.5 percent shooting (8-34) in the second half and 27.9 (17-61) for the game.

Plummer's previous high in rebounds was six at DePaul, and he entered the game with 15 rebounds this season. Scott finished two-shy of his career-high in points, shooting five-of-seven from the field and six-of-seven from the foul line.

The Flyers held the Tigers to just 23.5 percent shooting (8-34) in the second half and 27.9 (17-61) for the game.

Freshman guard Trent Meacham had four assists and Williams added a pair while the Flyers committed just eight turnovers. Chris Alvarez had four assists and eight rebounds.

The Flyers will have a week off for finals before visiting Saint Louis next Saturday at the Savvis Center for a 2 p.m. EST tip-off with the Billikens.

POST GAME QUOTES

DAYTON HEAD COACH Brian Gregory "I'm pleased with the win tonight. As a team, we entered tonight's game with new obstacles. We entered as a team playing with success and were playing an opponent that you can't just look past."

"Monty (Scott) looked good in the first half tonight. He played aggressively and took quality shots. They (Texas Southern) swarmed him in the second half."

"In order to play the way we want to play we need to defend and we did a good job of that against their three perimeter players."

"Every day we get a little better as a team. We have great team chemistry and trust each other. I've enjoyed coaching this team because of the way they get after it and work to make themselves better."

DAYTON SENIOR Mark Jones "We don't have a seven-foot and a 6-9 guy on our team anymore. So we have to be scrappy. It has to be our trademark."

DAYTON JUNIOR Monty Scott "My teammates found me and it went down for me."

"The flow of the game was wide open, but they played tighter in the second half."

"We needed this win to put us back on the blocks for Saint Louis."

DAYTON FRESHMAN NORMAN PLUMMER "I struggled in first half, but I stuck with it. After I missed my shots in the beginning, they backed off me so I was open and started to turn it on. My teammates told me to stick with it and keep shooting."