SpringfieldNewsSun.com

COLUMBUS — As always, there was scarlet in the stands of the Schottenstein Center. This time, though, there was a dash of Flyer Faithful red in the arena and blue-clad UD cheerleaders near the Dayton band section.

The first-ever UD-OSU game in the 19,049-seat arena was a sellout. No one had hard numbers about how many Flyer fans made the drive, but about a fifth cheered when UD's starters were introduced.

The NIT quarterfinal on ESPN2 was played with a trip to New York City on the line. The winner plays Mississippi on Tuesday in Madison Square Garden. The teams haven't played since December 1988.

OSU and UD officials said about 2,400 of the Internet-only tickets were from southwest Ohio. A UD spokesman estimated the Flyer fans at 3,500 but OSU associate athletics director Steve Snapp guessed between 5,000 and 6,000.

Snapp, a Sidney native who said he grew up on UD basketball, added that he saw couples walking down High Street and Lane Avenue where one person had UD gear on and another had OSU garb.

"One guy had an Ohio State sweatshirt on and a Flyers hat," Snapp said. "I don't what he's going to do, switch sides at halftime?"

The pregame scene included the school's bands taking turns until 8:30 p.m., when both teams appeared on the court simultaneously.

There didn't seem to be much choreographed trash-talking, like OSU fans pointing out UD's NCAA tourney victory drought or UD fans mentioning how the Flyers actually won their football division's national championship.

OSU fans looked around curiously when the scattered UD fans — there was only one 300-person assigned UD section — sang the "Go, Dayton Flyers" chant.

Of course, some UD fans appeared to start to almost join in on the Buckeyes' fight song or yell, "Go Bucks!" like many of them probably do on Saturdays in the fall.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-6951 or mgokavi@DaytonDailyNews.com.