Owls fall to Dayton in A-10 championship game

DAYTON, Ohio-Temple’s unlikely run to the Atlantic 10 crown ended with a disappointing defeat last night. Wanting to win its first A-10 conference title in school history, the Dayton Flyers put an end to the

DAYTON, Ohio-Temple’s unlikely run to the Atlantic 10 crown ended with a disappointing defeat last night.
Wanting to win its first A-10 conference title in school history, the Dayton Flyers put an end to the Owls chances of getting an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament with a 79-72 victory.
When the Owls came into the A-10 tournament, very little was expected of them. Most observers assumed maybe they could pull out a win in the quarterfinal, but then be eliminated in the semis.
What made the loss to Dayton so excruciating was the fact that the Owls came so close in what was considered an off year for the program.
“It’s a little hard to swallow, because we know how close we were in getting there and we know how bad we wanted to get [John Chaney] back into the NCAA Tournament,” senior forward Alex Wesby said.
Wesby added that he felt particularly responsible for the team’s shortcomings and badly wanted to get Chaney back in the NCAA Tournament. The Owls missed the cut last year for the first time in 12 years. It now looks as if the Owls won’t be qualifying for the NCAAs for a second year in a row.
The Owls couldn’t seem to recover from a 14-0 Flyer run to open the game. Four different Flyers players scored as the Owls finally got on the board with a Wesby three.
Led by center Sean Finn’s 20 points and 11 rebounds and tournament MVP Ramod Marshall’s 16 points and 10 assists, the Flyers seemed to answer every run the Owls used to get back in the game.
Junior guard Brian Polk continued his excellent tournament play, shooting 7-for-12 from the field for 22 points. Every time he touched the ball, Polk had the Flyers undivided attention as they tried to keep a defender in front of him. The Flyers eventually managed to bottle him up and he failed to hit a field goal in the final eight minutes
Polk, who didn’t make any of the three all-conference teams, was the lone Owl voted to the all-tournament team, averaging 22.1 points in three games. In addition, he tied an A-10 tournament record with 14 three-pointers with an accuracy of 54 percent.
Throughout the tournament, the Owls would follow a disappointing first half with a dominant second half. Conversely, the Flyers had been taking advantage of the first half, building seven- and 23-point leads in their first two games.
Their penchant for letting up in the second half had to be on their minds going into the half. Though the Owls had their chances, the Flyers always seemed to have someone ready to hit a big shot.
Numerous times in the second half the Owls tried overcome their early deficit, but Marshall continued to hurt them. After cutting the margin to seven, Marshall hit a pair of free throws and followed that with a floater in the lane.
Down the stretch the Owls mounted one more push, cutting the lead to 70-65 after a Mardy Collins three and two Polk free throws. The Owls got the ball back on a jump ball and on the ensuing possession Hawkins drove the lane, but got caught too far under the basket and the shot hit the front of the rim.
“We played against a great team, a better team, and found ourselves deep behind, and just couldn’t pull it off,” said Chaney, who now has a record of 6-7 in conference championship games. “I felt bad because we’re losing Alex (Wesby), and he’s one of my sons.”
Fortunately for the Owls, they should be able to secure a spot in the National Invitational Tournament after finishing the season over .500.
“It’s good that we still get to play in the postseason if we go to the NIT, but everyone wants to go to the Big Dance,” said junior guard David Hawkins, who finished with 20 points and four rebounds. “I’m not going to sit here and say that I’m not affected by that, but I’m not just going to give up, because the more games we play, the more games we got to go out and win.”

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