University of Richmond
Dayton
Men's Basketball Downs Dayton, 63-54
02/10/2002 | Men's Basketball
Feb 10, 2002
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Listen to Coach John Beilein on the postgame radio show.
Listen to junior center Johnathan Collins on the postgame radio show.
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va.-The Richmond Spiders (13-10, 7-3 Atlantic 10) won their fifth game in the past six outings, roaring to a 63-54 win over the Dayton Flyers (14-7, 6-4 Atlantic 10) at the Robins Center on Sunday afternoon. With the victory, the Spiders secured sole possession of second place in the Atlantic 10 West Division.
The Flyers jumped out of the gate early, as sophomore forward Keith Waleskowski netted six of Dayton's first 11 points to put the visitors up nine (11-2) seven minutes into the contest. Richmond responded with an 8-0 scoring run over the next minute and a half to pull to within one. After flirting with the lead and tying the contest twice, the Spiders grabbed their first command of the game at the 5:03 mark. Sophomore forward Tony Dobbins (Mitchellville, Md./Va. Tech) swiped Flyers guard Mark Jones and went the distance to give Richmond a 21-19 lead. Tied a total of five times in the first twenty minutes, the lead changed yet again before the break when Flyers guard Ramod Marshall nailed a trey at the horn to give UD a two-point advantage at the break (28-26).
It was Richmond that opened up the second half however with a roar, thanks in large part to the play of junior center Johnathan Collins. The Norfolk, Va. native blocked five shots in just the first two minutes of play. On the Flyers' first possession of the second half, Collins blocked Waleskowski's attempt and ran the length of the court to score the bucket on the other end. Richmond built a five-point lead (33-28) but the Flyers would answer. A Marshall 3-pointer gave UD a 39-35 edge with 13:30 to play. It was the Spiders turn to answer and they did just that, a high-flying Dobbins tip in off a Collins' miss (7:50) capped off a 15-4 Richmond scoring tear. Late Richmond turnovers would lead to points for UD would cut the deficit to three, 51-48. However, the Spiders would again sting. Richmond sophomore forward Mike Skrocki's (Howell, N.J./Christian Brothers) triple at the top of the key with 4:31 to play would seal the victory for the Spiders. UR held Dayton to 9-of-34 shooting in the decisive second stanza.
Skrocki led all scorers with 17 points, his 10th consecutive double digit scoring effort. He also paced Richmond in rebounding, grabbing seven. Dobbins scored 13 points on the afternoon, going 5-of-5 from the floor. Collins blocked a career-best six shots in the contest. For Dayton, Brooks Hall registered a team-high 12 points while Waleskowski added 10 (all in the first half) and 13 rebounds.
