Post Game Analysis: Austin Peay

The Dayton Flyers opened the season today with a 78 – 62 victory over the Austin Peay Governors. A crowd over 12,000 at U.D. Arena was on hand to witness a record take place by Marcus Johnson. Read on as Dayton Insider gives you the first ever FlyerCountry.com player of the game.

FlyerCountry.com Player of the Game
Marcus Johnson broke the record for points scored by a freshman in his opening game. Marcus was impressive from the beginning and never let up as he ended up with 23 points on 8 of 14 shooting and also added 8 rebounds in 32 minutes of action. Marcus brought energy and never once did he play like a freshman. He looked mature beyond his years and gave the Dayton Flyers a basket every time they needed one. Congratulations too Marcus Johnson on his record breaking performance.

With the news of Andres Sandoval’s Injury yesterday it was obvious that changes were in place. Would Coach Gregory make London Warren the starter at point or would he move Brian Roberts over to the point and insert freshman Marcus Johnson. Coach Gregory was asked this exact question on 1290 WHIO post game radio show and Coach responded “we thought we would move Brian over to the point since he played some point last year and give London a few minutes to absorb everything”.

Well it did not take long for London to absorb everything as he came into the game at the 16:51 mark with the Flyers trailing 3 -5. Dayton took the lead shortly after and they never let the lead shrink to more than 8 points. London changed the pace of the game just like in the Flyers last exhibition game by extending both his offensive and defensive pressure 94 feet. London finished the game with 6 points and 5 assists but what he did for the flyers does not show up in the box score.

Marcus Johnson and Brian Roberts were the main scorers on the floor as they both hit shot after shot. Marcus showed poise of a senior and was aggressive from the very beginning. The play of the game for Dayton Insider was at the 1:30 mark of the first half. Dayton had just called a timeout after Austin Peay came back from 16 down and cut it to 8. You would have thought that Coach Gregory would have drawn a play up for Brian Roberts or Monty Scott, but the play was designed for “freshman” Marcus Johnson and he came of the double screen at the top and drained the 3 point shot.

Kurt Huelsman helped fill the middle very well as he grabbed 9 rebounds in his first game as a flyer also. Kurt did not score but he also never took a shot. He did not hurt the Flyers in his first game and played great defense and did his job on the boards.

Monty Scott also played very well chipping in 9 points on 4 of 11 shooting and pulling in 4 rebounds. This was a game that was well played and the freshman came through big time in there first appearance in a college basketball game.

Look for Dayton Insider to break down the post game “Edge” on the Flyers Runway message board.