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Flyers' defense not enough to earn win

Dayton shoots 24.6 percent from field in  58-50 loss to Saint Louis.

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By Doug Harris, Staff Writer Updated 11:42 PM Saturday, February 4, 2012

SAINT LOUIS — University of Dayton point guard Kevin Dillard knows how to put the ball in the basket, but Saint Louis basketball coach Rick Majerus decided he’d much rather have the junior point guard creating shots for himself than poking around in the lane and creating them for others.

After getting carved up by Dillard with an 18-point, 10-assist night in the first meeting between the teams, the Billikens sagged off the Atlantic 10’s assist leader and kept him from penetrating and dishing to open teammates.

“The thing that was different in this game is they didn’t put two on him as much,” UD coach Archie Miller said. “They kept him in front or kept a guy on the side. They were saying, ‘You’re going to shoot a tough 15-footer or a tough finish-at-the-basket.’

“They weren’t going to give him a lot of the passes he was able to make. For the most part, teams aren’t going to be able to do that. In their house, I’m sure it was a little easier.”

Having to make do without Dillard’s play-making prowess, the Flyers shot a season-low 24.6 percent from the field in a 58-50 loss before a near-capacity crowd of 10,414 here Saturday.

UD, suffering its fourth straight defeat, was just 14-of-57 from the field and 4-for-24 on 3-pointers while registering a season low in points.

Dillard finished with 11 points on 2-of-10 shooting and had just two assists. The Flyers (14-9, 4-5 A-10) were much improved defensively over their three previous games, but the Billikens (18-5, 6-3), who shot 40 percent from the floor, kept their NCAA tournament hopes alive by avenging a 79-72 overtime defeat at UD Arena last month.

Majerus was pleased that some shaky offense, including an 18-for-31 free-throw showing, didn’t bleed into a poor defensive outing.

“In the face of dejection and adversity ... we came back with greater resolve and channeled the anxiety and disappointment into a defensive effort. That was the tale of the tape,” he said.

Trailing by 11 in the first half and 10 early in the second, the Flyers pulled to within two at 36-34 on a 3-pointer by Luke Fabrizius with 15:18 to go.

The Billikens quickly pushed the spread to seven, though, and UD couldn’t get it under three again.

“It sucks to lose,” said Dillard, who limped off late in the game with an ankle injury but said he was fine afterward. “Somehow someway, man, we’ve got to find a way to turn this thing back around. That’s four in a row for us. I never thought we’d hit a skid like this. Now that we have, we have to correct it.”

Chris Johnson led UD with 16 points.

“One of the things that has made our team great is we’re resilient and we’ve had an edge, and nobody has given us anything,” Miller said. “For whatever reason, we’ve been shocked here the last couple of weeks because we lost that edge and we lost that resiliency.

“All of a sudden, (people) were saying we were good, and that’s fool’s gold. We’ve got to remember who we are. ...When we get on the bus and go back, we can hold our head high. We fought, and that’s something we can’t lose for the rest of the season.”

Next game:

Who: Dayton (14-9, 4-5 Atlantic 10) at Fordham (9-13, 2-7)

When: 1 p.m. Saturday

TV: WHIO (Ch. 7)

Radio: WHIO-AM (1290), WHIO-FM (95.7)

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