Coverage from:
The Boston Globe
The Dayton Daily News
The Dayton Daily News -- game notes
The Worcester Telegram & Gazette
The Daily Hampshire Gazette
The Daily Hampshire Gazette -- Lari Ketner spotlight
The Daily Hampshire Gazette -- game notes
The Daily Hampshire Gazette -- column
The Berkshire Eagle


Ketner, UMass destroy Dayton
Temple on Minutemen horizon
By Joe Burris, The Boston Globe Staff, 2/2/98

AMHERST - It appears the hiatus is over. University of Massachusetts fans aren't bemoaning the departures of Marcus Camby and John Calipari anymore. Opposing teams no longer are coming in with lofty expectations. UMass is king of the hill again in the Atlantic 10; the Minutemen yesterday remained the only unbeaten team in the league when they knocked off upstart Dayton, 85-69, before 9,493 at the Mullins Center - UMass's second home sellout this season.

UMass improved to 16-5 overall, 8-0 in the league, and proved again it is much improved over last year's squad, which overcame a 6-9 start to barely make the NCAA Tournament. Coupled with Thursday's win over No. 21 Rhode Island, the Minutemen are sure to receive much consideration for a national ranking - something they haven't had this late in the season since advancing to the Final Four two years ago.

This team is drawing comparisons to some of former coach Calipari's squads, which dominated the A-10 from 1992-96, when they won an NCAA record-tying five consecutive conference titles. This season, UMass is the only A-10 team unbeaten in league play on the road and it has a win streak of 10 games - twice as many as the league's second-longest current streak.

Yesterday's player of the game was center Lari Ketner, who had a most eventful 21st birthday. The 6-foot-10-inch widebody from Philadelphia had a career-high 33 points on 13-for-17 shooting from the floor, 6 rebounds, and 4 blocks.

''We tried to keep him out of the post, but he made some great turnaround jumpers,'' said Dayton forward Ryan Perryman, one of several players who tried in vain to guard Ketner one-on-one. ''Last year, he wouldn't have made some of those shots.'' Dayton fell to 14-7, 6-3.

Having struggled to get out of the shadow of Camby, the former national player of the year, Ketner left to the chant of ''Lari, Lari,'' after helping the Minutemen to a 56-36 edge in points in the paint. UMass, which led by as many as 20, shot 60 percent from the floor while holding Dayton to 37 percent.

''I just wanted to go out and play hard. I don't think it was my best game as a college player because I only had six rebounds,'' said Ketner, who wasn't as reserved when questions shifted to UMass's next opponent, archrival Temple, tomorrow night.

UMass guard Charlton Clarke was asked if he felt Temple's game plan would change without starting guard Pepe Sanchez, who might not play because of a sprained ankle. As Clarke said he didn't want to critique the Owls, Ketner gestured with his hands, wanting to be asked the same question.

''I think the guards they have, I know them from back home,'' he said. ''I don't think they're ready to play a whole game against us. I don't think they'll have leadership.''

Needless to say, UMass coach Bruiser Flint, who wasn't in the room at the time, was not pleased, so much so that he pleaded with reporters not to print the comments. He reminded of the last time UMass figured it had a sure win against Temple, an 80-70 loss at Curry Hicks Cage Feb. 21, 1991, as the Owls played without injured star Marc Macon.

UMass fans began chanting, ''We want Temple'' with 2:10 left yesterday, in part because the Minutemen had silenced a Dayton run eight minutes earlier. The Flyers cut the lead to 53-44 with 11:39 left, but Monty Mack (14 points) hit consecutive 3-point baskets to start a 10-2 run, giving the Minutemen a 63-46 edge with 8:31 left. Dayton never came within 15 points after that.

''Our thing was staying in their perimeter players' faces,'' said Flint. The Minutemen prevented Dayton guard Coby Turner, a noted 3-point shooter, from even attempting a shot from behind the arc.

Asked if his team was the best in the league, Flint said, ''Recordwise, we are. I mean, Dayton was as hot as you get. They beat Xavier and Temple last week. They beat Rhode Island, which everyone says is the best team in the league.

''We'll see. We said at the beginning of the season we wanted to go undefeated at home and steal a few on the road. So far, we've done that.''


UD goes cold, loses to UMass
By Bucky Albers, The Dayton Daily News, 2/2/98

AMHERST, Mass.--It was Lari Ketner's 21st birthday, and he gave himself--and the University of Massachusetts basketball team--a reason to remember it for a long time.

Ketner scored 33 points Sunday afternoon, exceeding his previous career high by 12, as Massachusetts made a case for a spot in the nation's top 25 by whipping the University of Dayton, 85-69.

A sellout crowd of 9,493 watched at the Mullins Center as the Minutemen (16-5) established control early and won their 10th straight game and eighth without a loss in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

"This afternoon we ran into a very hot ball club, which I think is an excellent one," UD coach Oliver Purnell said. "To win, we had to do a couple of things well. One was to shoot the ball well. We didn't do that. You shoot poorly on the road against a hot team, and you don't have much of a chance."

While Massachusetts made 60 percent (30-50) of its shots, Dayton converted only 37 percent (23-63), becoming the 14th UMass opponent in 21 games to shoot below 40 percent.

UD forward Ryan Perryman scored a season-high 27 points and collected 12 rebounds, but he didn't get much help. Center Mark Ashman was 3 for 11 and freshman guard Tony Stanley was 0 for 8 on the heels of his 26-point performance against Temple.

The Flyers--14-7 overall and 6-3 in the conference--tried to control the 6-foot-10, 260-pound Ketner without double-teaming him, and they picked the wrong day to do it.

Ketner, who had a modest 13.3 scoring average, opened the game with a dunk on a planned alley-oop play and never stopped scoring. He made 13 of 17 shots, scoring on dunks, hooks, stickbacks and turnaround jump shots.

"They played me one-on-one," Ketner said. "I haven't seen that in a long time. I didn't expect to come in and score so much. Coach (Bruiser Flint) saw we had an advantage down low, so we used it."

The Minutemen never quit kept pumping the ball inside to Ketner.

"It's a given," said guard Charlton Clarke, who had 13 points and 6 assists. "Milk the cow. Keep going. If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Ketner's 33 points was the second most ever scored by a UMass player. The only higher total was the 38 Marcus Camby had against Dayton here two years ago in a 78-58 victory.

Dayton's plan was to get help on Ketner from perimeter players when he received the ball in the post.

"We wanted to make him kick it out and then close on the other guys," Purnell said. "When we did dig, we fouled him and he made the free throws. He played above the rim. He made tough turnaround shots off the blocks. It was just a tremendous performance."

From the beginning, UMass clamped a tight defense on the Flyers, making it difficult for everyone to get shots.

Ashman, who played an excellent game last year when the Flyers upset UMass, 69-67, at UD Arena, got some good looks but couldn't score. Stanley, who has yet to have a good performance in enemy territory, was shut out.

"Tony had some decent looks," Purnell said. "He just didn't knock anything down. Our wings have to make some open shots."

Dayton didn't get its only 3-point basket until Andy Metzler made one with 1:04 remaining.

The Flyers never led. They fell behind, 14-4, in the first eight minutes and trailed by about 10 points most of the game. UMass broke it open midway in the second half when Dayton, trailing 53-44, went to a 2-3 zone.

Guard Monty Mack made back-to-back 3-point shots to start a 10-2 run in a span of two minutes. That built the UMass lead to 17 at 63-46 with 8:30 remaining.

The Flyers will be seeing Ketner in their sleep.

"I hope the next time we play him, it's not on his birthday," Purnell said. "He was Camby-ish."


Ketner celebrates by sleeping it off
By Bucky Albers, The Dayton Daily News, 2/2/98

AMHERST, Mass.--After scoring 33 points against Dayton Sunday afternoon, Massachusetts center Lari Ketner was asked what else he was going to do to celebrate his 21st birthday.

"Go home and take a nap," he said.

Ketner was a different player than the one the Flyers saw last year in Dayton. For one thing, he reduced his weight from 270 pounds to 260 by doing a lot of running last summer and watching his diet.

"I stopped eating double quarter-pounders at McDonald's," he said.

UMass opened the game with an alley-oop lob to Ketner, who dunked.

"We try to get that every game," he said.

Ryan's report: UD's Ryan Perryman said Ketner is more difficult to guard than he was last season.

"You could square him up last year and he wouldn't have made some of those (turnaround jump) shots," Perryman said.

Perryman was asked to explain why UD doesn't play better on the road.

"We have some young players," he said. "Playing away could be a little bit uncomfortable for them."

Go the distance: Massachusetts coach Bruiser Flint was asked why he didn't take Ketner out of the game until only 25 seconds remained.

"I didn't have anybody else to put in," he said. "I only have nine players that play, and two are walk-ons."

Tyrone Weeks and Ajmal Basit, two Massachusetts big men, had fouled out.

Owls are coming: Late in the game, UMass fans began to shout: "We want Temple!" They play the Owls here Tuesday night.

Temple, which lost to Xavier Saturday, is still without pint guard Pepe Sanchez, who sprained his ankle late in the Dayton game.

Ketner was asked if Temple can be competitive against the Minutemen without Sanchez in the lineup.

"I don't think they're ready to handle a game like this," Ketner said. "They don't have the leadership."

Stanley honored: UD freshman Tony Stanley was honored as Atlantic 10 Conference rookie of the week for his 26-point performance against Temple on Wednesday. It was the second time he received the award this season.

Stanley still couldn't shake his string of unproductive games on the road. After failing to score against Massachusetts, Stanley's scoring average for six games on enemy courts dropped to 4.7. He is averaging 17.1 points for 12 home games.

Traveling man: Ted Kissell, vice president and director of athletics at UD, attended the game. Since Thursday, Kissell visited with ESPN television officials in Bristol, Conn., and made a stop at the University of Connecticut. He watched the UD women beat Massachusetts Saturday afternoon.

Be our guest: Josh Postorino's parents and brother, Jake, were in the crowd at the Mullins Center. Coaches Wade O'Connor and Pete Strickland each had several family members in the audience.

Familiar face: The game's official scorer was Jeff O'Malley, assistant athletic director for compliance at UMass. O'Malley, a graduate of UD's law school, was formerly in charge of compliance at Dayton.

Down under: Massachusetts outscored Dayton, 56-36, in the paint.


Red-hot UMass wins again
Lari Ketner really wanted to come out strong and see that the team was really into the game.
By Sandy Burgin, The Worcester Telegram & Gazette Staff, 2/2/98

AMHERST-- Lari Ketner celebrated his 21st birthday in grand fashion yesterday, scoring a career-high 33 points to escort the University of Massachusetts to an 85-69 victory over Dayton before 9,493 fans at the Mullins Center.

Photo
Chris Kirkland added valuable minutes off the bench.
The victory was the 10th in a row for the 16-5 Minutemen, who are 8-0 atop the Atlantic 10 East and ready to surge into the Top 25 today in both polls.

"I've been telling my kids, 'If you handle your business out on the court, those things (rankings) will come around.' If people don't put us in, we'll just keep winning until they have to," UMass coach Bruiser Flint said.

UMass will be trying to either solidify its position in the Top 25 or make another statement when it entertains Temple at 9:30 p.m. tomorrow (ESPN2).

"I hope the next time we play them, Ketner won't be celebrating any birthday," said Dayton coach Oliver Purnell. "He was simply Camby-ish."

Two years ago, Purnell brought Dayton to Amherst and Marcus Camby torched the Flyers for 38 points. That was the most points scored by a UMass player at the Mullins Center.

Ketner, a 6-foot-10, 268-pound junior center, connected on 13 of 17 shots from the floor and 7 of 8 free throws in 33 minutes.

Ketner was coming off a four-point, five-foul performance against Rhode Island.

"I really wanted to come out strong and see that the team was really into the game today," Ketner said. "I didn't play an awful lot (15 minutes) Thursday. That alley-oop play really got me going."

Ketner took an alley-oop pass from Charlton Clarke after the opening tap and dunked the ball, helping start UMass off on a 14-4 spurt.

Ketner had 14 of his points in the first half while guards Monty Mack and Clarke combined for 17 points as the Minutemen took a 39-28 lead at the end of the first 20 minutes.

Ketner scored 11 of UMass' first 14 points to start the second half before Clarke hit back-to-back 3-pointers to break the game open as the Minutemen took a 59-46 lead with 9:30 left to play.

"Those were two big baskets," Dayton forward Ryan Perryman said. "We were hanging around, but those two shots gave them a working margin to deal with."

Perryman, a 6-foot-7 senior forward and two-time A-10 All-Star, scored 27 points and had 12 rebounds yesterday. He also had nothing but praise for Ketner and the Minutmen.

"He made some good shots over the top of players. That had to be his best game of the seasons," Perryman said. "He's improved a lot. You could square him off last year and he didn't make the shots. But not this year. We tried to keep him outside the post, but it didn't matter, he was making shots from everywhere.

"UMass is playing the best of any team in the Atlantic 10," Perryman said.

Perryman and Dayton, which had beaten UMass 69-67 last year, came into yesterday's game on a roll with victories over Xavier and Temple. Yesterday's loss dropped the Flyers to 14-7 overall and 6-3 in the A-10 West.

While Ketner was the main show, UMass got other solid contributions. Mack scored 14 points while Clarke had 13 points and 6 assists. Tyrone Weeks scored 6 points and had 10 rebounds, and Chris Kirkland came off the bench with 8 points, helping Ketner and the Minutemen outscore Dayton in the paint, 56-36.

Ajmal Basit, who was the A-10 Player of the Week after his monstrous game against URI Thursday (15 points, 19 rebounds), didn't score, but had five rebounds -- and five fouls -- in 11 minutes.

Ketner's performance (his previous high was 21) didn't really surprise Flint.

"I expect him to score like that every night," Flint said. "This is the first game he wasn't double-teamed. They played him straight up. He was really pumped up and did a great defensive job on (Mark) Ashman. He really took it to him."

Ashman, a 6-9 sophomore center who came in averaging 11.5 points and 5.3 rebounds, scored just 9 points on 3-for-11 shooting and had 4 rebounds.

UMass did an outstanding job shutting down Dayton guards Tony Stanley and Edwin Young, who had combined to average more than 21 points. Stanley was 0 for 8 and didn't score, and Young had just 9 points. Forward Colby Turner, the Flyers' leading scorer with a 14.4 average, scored just 7 points.

UMass held an opponent to under 40 percent shooting (36.5) for the 14th time in 21 games.

Scoring 33 points was enough of a birthday celebration for Ketner, who said he was going to go home and take a nap.

Unfortunately for Dayton, Ketner's nap time isn't between 2 and 4 p.m. on Sundays.


UMass cruises on Ketner's day
By Matt Vautour, The Daily Hampshire Gazette Staff Writer, 2/2/98

AMHERST (FEB. 2) - On the day that Lari Ketner blew out the candles, the University of Massachusetts blew out the Flyers.

Led by 33 points from the junior center, UMass cruised past Atlantic 10 rival Dayton, 85-69, Sunday in front of a sellout crowd at the Mullins Center.

The win was UMass' 10th straight and improved the Minutemen to 16-5, 8-0 in the A-10, which was good enough to push UMass into the top 25 for the first time this year. The Minutemen earned a 24 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll that was released last night. The Associated Press poll comes out tonight.

In the closing minutes of the game, the Mullins Center crowd had its mind on the home team's next opponent as they chanted "We want Temple."

They'll get their wish Tuesday night, when the Owls and Minutemen will resume their rivalry at 9:30 p.m. at the Mullins Center.

On his 21st birthday Lari Ketner turned in the best offensive performance of his two-year career scoring 33 points. Monty Mack added 14 points, while Charlton Clarke added 11 points and six assists.

Photo
Charlton Clarke goes up strong to the hoop.
"I thought Charlton played well today," Flint said. "That's why I didn't play Jonathan quite as much, because I wanted to reward Charlton a little bit for being out there and doing a great job."

Ryan Perryman led the Flyers with 27 points and 12 rebounds. Dayton entered the game with a reputation of being A-10 giant killers with wins over both Xavier and Temple at UD Arena, but a 14-4 game-opening run by the Minutemen quickly ensured that no giant would fall Sunday in Amherst.

After Dayton jumped back into the game, UMass used an 8-0 run to extend that lead to 13 points late in the first half, before heading to intermission with a 39-28 advantage.

After a Perryman tip-in cut the Flyers deficit to nine points to start the second half, the teams traded mini-spurts until an Edwin Young lay-in brought Dayton back within nine at 53-44.

Coming out of a TV time-out, Mack buried three-pointers on two consecutive possessions to keep the UMass lead in double figures the rest of the way.

As the Minutemen pulled away, Flint was able to insert the seldom used Ross Burns, Rafael Cruz and Andy Maclay into the game. The Mullins crowd roared when Burns sank a jump shot for the foul line for UMass' last basket of the game.

Perryman was impressed with the Minutemen.

"UMass is probably playing the best basketball of any A-10 team right now," he said. "UMass and George Washington. UMass is very tough home and away."

While the Minuteman defense struggled with Perryman, they were still able to hold the Flyers shooting to under 40 percent, marking the 14th time in 21 games that UMass has held its opponent under 40 percent. While Perryman was successful, UMass was able to shut down Dayton's second two options, Coby Turner and Tony Stanley.

"Our thing was stay in their faces and make them put it on the floor because they're both good stand still jump shooters," Flint said.

Turner finished with seven points, while Stanley didn't score.


Team feeds off Ketner's spark
By Matt Vautour, The Daily Hampshire Gazette Staff Writer, 2/2/98

AMHERST (FEB. 2) - The game belonged to him from the opening tip. Lari Ketner outleaped Dayton's Mark Ashman and directed the ball to Charlton Clarke.

Less than five seconds later Clarke launched the ball high to the left of the basket. A leaping Ketner caught the ball in stride and rammed it through the net for a rim shaking dunk that gave the University of Massachusetts a 2-0 lead over Dayton.

"I think (the alley-oop) got the team going," said Ketner, who turned 21 Sunday. "We try to do that every game to get the team pumped up. When I was able to get it, the team just got hyper and went from there."

It was the beginning of the best offensive afternoon by any Minuteman since Bruiser Flint became the head coach and it ignited the sellout crowd into a frenzy.

Ketner followed with an inside lay-in and added a putback in UMass' 10-2 run to open the game.

Just three days before, foul trouble landed Ketner on the bench, where he watched sophomore Ajmal Basit come off the bench to dominate Rhode Island's frontcourt with 15 points and 19 rebounds. Ketner's lack of contribution to Thursday night's victory was on his mind as he took the court Sunday.

"I wanted to come out and play well, where I didn't play that much in the Rhode Island game," he said. "I felt as though today that I would have to stay in the game and play good defense for us to have a chance to win."

"I'm happy for him," Flint said. "He needed a breakout game like that."

Photo
It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's Ketner for the jam!
His 33 points were the most by any Minuteman since Marcus Camby dumped 38 points on these same Flyers on Jan. 6, 1996, at the Mullins Center. It well eclipsed Ketner's previous career high of 21.

On an Atlantic 10 conference call earlier in the season, Virginia Tech coach Bobby Hussey called Ketner the best big man in the conference. When asked if he agreed with that assessment, Flint responded: "On some nights."

Sunday afternoon was one of those nights.

Unlike most teams that have played UMass, Dayton rarely doubled teamed Ketner in the post, which proved to be a bad decision.

"Tonight was the first time that he hasn't been double teamed in a while," Flint said. "I was shocked. Usually teams double team or triple team him. They played him straight up and he did a great job. If you can't be good on your birthday, you can't be good too many other nights."

"I just wanted to go out and play hard," Ketner said. "When I got the ball in the post and it was one-on-one I thought I had the advantage."

In addition to dunking, Ketner displayed a repertoire of hook shots and short jumpers as well to go along with four blocked shots.

"I expect him to score like that every night," said Flint, "but it doesn't always happen that way."

Once it was apparent that he was on top of his game, UMass made it a point to get him the ball.

"It's a given. Milk the cow," said Clarke, who kept singing bars of Happy Birthday throughout the press conference. "Keep going. If it ain't broke don't fix it. Give it to him."

Still Ketner wasn't entirely satisfied with his play.

"I only had six rebounds," said Ketner when asked if this was the best game of his career. "I didn't rebound that well."

After the game Ketner had big plans to celebrate his game and his birthday.

"I'm going to go home and take a nap."


Weeks' boards in UMass top 10
By Matt Vautour, The Daily Hampshire Gazette Staff Writer, 2/2/98

AMHERST (FEB. 2) - While most of the focus in the University of Massachusetts' win Sunday over Dayton fell on his frontcourt mate Lari Ketner, Tyrone Weeks quietly moved into the top 10 career rebounding list.

His 10 boards gave him 791 in his four years in maroon and white, tying him with former teammate Dana Dingle at No. 9 all-time. He needs 31 to match No. 8 Charlie O'Rourke.

* * *

IT WASN'T a good day to be an Atlantic 10 award honoree. Sunday's game featured A-10 Player of the Week Ajmal Basit and Rookie of the Week Tony Stanley. After turning in career nights earlier in the week, neither player scored a point. Basit finished with five rebounds in 11 minutes before fouling out. Stanley went 0-for-8.

* * *

FOR THE second straight year, the final week of the UMass basketball camp in August will feature NBA players speaking to the campers. This year's roster will include Keith VanHorn, Kerry Kittles and Tim Thomas, all of the Nets and controversial former UMass star Marcus Camby.

The current Toronto Raptor was not invited a year ago after his difficulties with the NCAA and the law, but according to UMass Chancellor David K. Scott, Camby will be welcome in Amherst.

"People have to learn from their mistakes and one has to give people another chance if they've learned from their mistakes," Scott said. "You're not going to punish people for the rest of their lives."

* * *

ODDS AND ENDS... The 85 points scored was UMass' highest output of the season. The Minutemen scored 82 against Davidson and 80 against Southwest Louisiana... The tipoff of UMass' Feb. 14 game with LaSalle has been changed from 2 to 4 p.m. because of television.


A good time to be ranked
By Matt Vautour, The Daily Hampshire Gazette Staff Writer, 2/2/98

AMHERST (FEB. 2) - The nation had to notice eventually, and this week it finally did. For the first time since Nov. 25, 1996, the University of Massachusetts is ranked. After winning 10 games in a row and rising to No. 17 in the Rating Percentage Index, the Minutemen are back in the top 25, checking in at No. 24 in the Coaches Poll. The Associated Press Poll comes out tonight.

UMass coach Bruiser Flint swears up and down that whether or not UMass is ranked doesn't affect his team.

"We're just trying to win ball games. If we do that everything else will take care of itself," he said.

But while he might be right in that respect, it does affect his program.

From a program standpoint, there is no such thing as too much positive exposure. Being ranked certainly falls into that category.

Most TV stations and newspapers run Top 25 highlights or results every day. So now when Flint calls a recruit, he doesn't have to tell him that the Minutemen crushed George Washington, because the kid will have already seen it on ESPN's "SportsCenter" or in his hometown paper.

Being in the top 25 doesn't just help recruit players to the university either. A high percentage of UMass' out-of-state enrollment was to some degree influenced by basketball success when making a decision to attend the university. The increased enrollment helps the university as a whole.

Being ranked is a big step in returning the program to national status. The best programs (Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, etc.) are ranked every week of every year. That's why they are the cream of the crop. Being ranked is a step toward that level.

This would certainly be among the lesser advantages to be ranked, but maybe a spot in the top 25 would end all the misinformation regarding UMass that emanates from that pile of foolishness that doubles as ESPN analyst Digger Phelps.

Earlier in the season Phelps said that the key to UMass' success was that the emergence of freshman point guard Monty Mack allowed Charlton Clarke to excel as a shooting guard.

Huh?

First of all Mack is a sophomore, but because of his Proposition 48 year that is an understandable mistake. But a point guard? Hardly. That's a complete lack of homework on Phelps' part, a trait he has demonstrated in the past.

Apparently nobody in Bristol has the gumption to inform Phelps of his error, because during Saturday's Xavier/Temple game, Phelps talked about the potential freshman point guard matchup between Mack and Temple's Lynn Greer, on Tuesday. Maybe with the Minutemen in the top 25, Digger might actually pay attention.

If asked in November, any coach who has mastered his vocation's rhetoric will promptly say that they don't care about being ranked at the beginning of the season, it's the end of the season that matters.

February has arrived and the horses are making the turn into the home stretch. That regular season end is almost here, with Selection Sunday just a month away.

It's good to be ranked now.


Birthday boy leads UMass
Ketner scores 33 on 21st birthday
By Howard Herman, The Berkshire Eagle Staff, 2/2/98

AMHERST -- Yesterday was Lari Ketner's 21st birthday. But instead of getting presents, the 6-foot-11 University of Massachusetts center gave them.

Ketner scored a career-high 33 points, had six rebounds and four blocked shots as the Minutemen pulled away in the second half for a more-than-comfortable 85-69 win over Dayton at the Mullins Center.

After celebrating his birthday on the court, Ketner said he had one idea for spending the rest of his special day.

"I'm going to go home and take a nap," he said with a smile.

It may have been Ketner's birthday yesterday, but it was no party for the Flyers.

"We had no answer for him," Dayton coach Oliver Purnell said after the game. "We hope the next time we play him, it's not his birthday."

The win was the Minutemen's 10th in a row, as they improve to 15-5 and a perfect 7-0 in the Atlantic 10 Conference's East Division.

Are they Top 25?

The win and the streak bring one question to mind: Are the Minutemen a Top 25 team? They have been rising to the top of the "Other teams with votes" section of the Associated Press Top 25, and were 29th last week.

"Are we?" UMass guard Charlton Clarke asked. "I hope so. Some people say we deserve to be there, some don't."

"I've been telling you guys this for three weeks, you win and you become a Top 25 team," Flint explained. "If they don't want to put you in there, you're just not in there. My whole thing is handle your business on the court. If you handle your business, those things come, too."

The Flyers came in having just knocked off Xavier and Temple. But both those wins came at home. Dayton just isn't the same team on the road, and that was demonstrated early.

Ketner got things rolling with an alley-oop jam from Clarke, making it 2-0. That got the sellout crowd of 9,493 into the game, got Ketner into the game, and meant big trouble for Dayton. After the junior center blocked a shot by Mark Ashman, he scored on a five-foot jump hook in the lane.

UMass extended its early lead to 14-4 on a hoop by Monty Mack (14 points) with 11:45 to go. Dayton came back with a brief 8-3 flurry that cut the lead to 17-12 with 8:47 left in the half. Ketner answered with a jumper from the foul line, and the Flyers never got any closer.

Dayton threatened to make a run with 12 minutes left in the game. Tyrone Weeks was given a technical foul and Dayton's Coby Turner swished both free throws. On the Flyers' next possession, Edwin Young drove for a deuce and the Minuteman lead was nine at 53-44.

Mack answered with a three pointer from deep on the left wing, giving UMass a 56-44 lead. Dayton's Andy Metzler scored inside, but Mack responded with a trey from the right wing with Metzler's hand in his face. That gave UMass a 13-point lead, 59-46.

Clarke scored 13 points and dished out six assists.

Ryan Perryman led Dayton with 27 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

FREE THROWS: It was not a good week to be the Atlantic 10 Conference Player or Rookie of the Week. UMass' Ajmal Basit was named player of the week, while Dayton freshman Tony Stanley was the top rookie. Neither distinguished himself yesterday. Basit fouled out after 11 minutes, going 0-for-1 from the field for no points and had five rebounds. Stanley was 0-for-8 (0-for-3 from three-point range) and also didn't score.

A reminder for UMass ticket holders. The game on Sunday, Feb. 14, against LaSalle has been moved from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., for television.


Dayton Flyers 69
Massachusetts Minutemen 85
at the Mullins Center

DAYTON (69)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Perryman        36  8-16 11-13  9-12  0  4   27
Turner          30   2-6   3-5   1-3  0  2    7
Ashman          20  3-11   3-4   1-2  0  4    9
Stanley         24   0-8   0-0   1-1  2  0    0
Young           27   4-9   1-1   1-2  1  4    9
Fitz             3   0-0   1-2   1-1  0  1    1
Doliboa          7   2-4   0-0   0-0  0  0    4
Metzler         25   4-7   1-2   1-2  3  2   10
Postorino       16   0-1   2-2   0-0  2  1    2
Bami             6   0-0   0-0   0-1  0  2    0
Cooper           3   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Harmon           3   0-1   0-0   1-2  0  2    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 23-63 22-29 16-26  8 22   69
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.365, FT-.759. 3-Point Goals:
1-8, .125 (Stanley 0-3, Young 0-2, Doliboa 0-2,
Metzler 1-1). Team rebounds: 5. Blocked shots: 1
(Turner). Turnovers: 13 (Turner 3, Metzler 2,
Perryman 2, Stanley 2, Ashman, Doliboa,
Postorino, Young). Steals: 7 (Ashman, Bami,
Metzler, Perryman, Stanley, Turner, Young).

MASSACHUSETTS (85)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Babul           31   0-1   4-4   0-2  2  2    4
Weeks           23   3-5   0-0  3-10  1  5    6
Ketner          32 13-17   7-8   3-6  0  2   33
Clarke          32   4-8   4-4   0-0  6  2   13
Mack            33  5-10   2-2   0-2  2  2   14
Depina          14   1-1   3-3   0-0  2  2    5
Burns            1   1-1   0-0   0-0  0  1    2
Cruz             1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Maclay           1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Kirkland        21   3-6   2-8   2-3  0  4    8
Basit           11   0-1   0-0   1-5  0  5    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 30-50 22-29  9-28 13 25   85
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.600, FT-.759. 3-Point Goals:
3-6, .500 (Clarke 1-2, Mack 2-4). Team rebounds:
5. Blocked shots: 6 (Ketner 4, Weeks 2).
Turnovers: 17 (Clarke 5, Ketner 3, Mack 3, Weeks
2, Babul, Basit, Depina, Kirkland). Steals: 6
(Depina 2, Kirkland 2, Mack 2).
__________________________________
Dayton             28   41  -   69
Massachusetts      39   46  -   85
__________________________________
Technical fouls: Massachusetts 1 (Weeks).  A:
9,493. Officials: David Day, William Bush, Bryan
Kersey.

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