Georgia Tech vs Dayton Flyers Basketball Recap

Dayton 63, Georgia Tech 59

In this week before Thanksgiving, the NCAA Tournament Selection Show stands four long months away. Yet, on a Thursday afternoon in Puerto Rico, the Dayton Flyers took a very big step toward the field of 65.

Yes, that's what life is like for mid-majors in the world of college basketball: November and early December might not seem terribly important for many casual sports fans, but this time of year is critical for the teams who can't count on massive budgets or blue-chip recruits. College basketball houses 348 Division I-A programs, and most of them lack the stature and sex appeal of North Carolina, Duke and Kentucky. The Daytons of the sport won't reel in McDonald's All-Americans; they scramble to get what talent they can, and when they face a name program in November, they have to post a victory.

Why was this game against Georgia Tech so important - and unmistakably sweet - for Coach Brian Gregory's squad? Consider Dayton's journey in 2008-09.

Dayton snared an at-large bid to last season's NCAA Tournament by beating nationally-ranked Marquette, 89-75, in a November tournament called the Chicago Invitational Challenge. Gregory's group didn't play a lot of big games out of conference, so by winning against a credentialed Big East opponent, the Flyers earned the respect of the NCAA men's basketball selection committee. In a four-month season, Dayton made a strong statement when given a national platform in November. What happened in the first weeks of the season made a defining difference for Dayton in March.

In light of the meaningful Marquette victory last November, UD needed to come good in the opening game of another November tournament this time around. Placed in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off, the Flyers - confronted with a moment of truth - took to the court at Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan against the 19th-rated Yellow Jackets, led by Coach Paul Hewitt and freshman phenom Derrick Favors. Dayton needed to knock back the ACC School that reached the 2004 national championship game before losing to Connecticut; a failure to topple Georgia Tech would not look good on Selection Sunday.

After 35 and a half minutes of play, the Flyers saw their NCAA Tournament hopes flashing before their eyes.

Trailing Georgia Tech by a 57-50 margin with 4:36 left in regulation, Dayton - in only its second game of the new season - knew that it wouldn't get another chance to impress the men in Indianapolis who decide the fate of Division I-A basketball programs each and every March. Without a big run in the final few minutes of play, the Flyers knew they'd jet back to their Ohio home without the scalps they needed.

Paul Williams, though, decided to do some big-game hunting on this make-or-break occasion.

After teammates Chris Wright, Chris Johnson, and London Warren scored six points to cut Tech's lead to 57-56, it was Williams - a sophomore with the poise of a senior - who took over in the game's final minute. With 56 seconds to go and Dayton in possession of the ball, Williams drained a 3-pointer to give the Flyers a 59-57 lead, their first advantage since the 7:47 mark of the second half. On the Yellow Jackets' next possession, Williams stole the ball from Tech guard Iman Shumpert with 34 seconds remaining, and promptly drilled two free throws to push Dayton's lead to 61-57.

After Favors (who scored only 10 points in this game after dealing with first-half foul trouble) produced a dunk off a steal to cut the Flyers' lead to 61-59 with 19 seconds on the clock, it was Williams who answered the bell for Brian Gregory by knocking down two more foul shots at the 13-second mark. With Dayton once again up by four, Tech panicked on its next (and last) possession, as the Jackets couldn't release a shot attempt in nine long seconds. An errant Shumpert layup with four seconds to go was all Georgia Tech could muster, and sure enough, Dayton bagged the breakthrough it so desperately needed.

Paul Williams won much more than a single basketball game for the University of Dayton basketball team. He very well could have won a plane flight to a first-round NCAA Tournament site in March of 2010.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer