No Fly Zone

Rob Lowery of Dayton stole the show late in the 2nd half to prevent the Patriots from upsetting the Flyers on their home court. The same court not too long ago Mason started it's historic run in the 2006 tournament. The depth of Dayton's squad came on when they needed to and thwarted Dre Smith's big night. Dre finished with 22 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, and hit 4 three-pointers. Definitely the Dre Smith we had hoped to see this season. Cam Long was also stellar running the point and finished with 15 points but more importantly he looked very poised on the road in a hostile environment. The difference in the game to me was that fact that Dayton's big front court really prevented Mason from getting any help out of Monroe and Birdsong late in the game. Freshmen Andre Cornelius and Ryan Pearson were not factors and made a couple of rookie mistakes, especially Cornelius. We saw Chris Fleming get some minutes with Vlad being gone and let's hope those minutes decrease. If not for the great play by the guards Mason would not have been in this game late. It's frustrating to watch a team unfold late in the game after leading for almost the entire 2nd half but let's face it, this is the best we have seen Mason play on the road this season. Now I'm not one for "moral victories", a loss is a loss but at least this game makes me a little bit more confident about our upcoming CAA schedule. I know many of you we probably thinking a win at Dayton would almost guarantee an NCAA tournament berth coupled with a decent conference record but keep in mind there's a lot of season left to play and Mason is playing just as good if not better than the rest of the CAA right now.

Pictures taken by Erik Shelkun of daytonflyers.cstv.com