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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
LAHAINA, Hawaii -- Tony Stanley found out late Tuesday night
that his mother had died.
|  | | Tony Stanley, playing despite his mother's death the day before, goes up for his key 3-pointer as the shot clock is ready to expire.
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Not only did the senior guard decide to play Wednesday, he led
Dayton to one of its biggest victory.
Stanley scored 21 points, including a back-breaking 3-pointer as
the shot clock expired with just more than a minute left in the game,
and the Flyers beat No. 6 Maryland 77-71 in the third-place game of
the Maui Invitational.
"I didn't think it was too difficult to play. If anything, my
mom would have wanted me to play hard for her," he said. "My
family wanted me to play. I was here anyway so I should have taken
care of business."
Karen Stanley died Tuesday in Philadelphia of pneumonia.
"Tony Stanley inspired us playing with a heavy heart," Dayton
coach Oliver Purnell said. "We said it in the locker room, this
one was for him."
The game was Dayton's third in as many days against a ranked
team. The Flyers beat No. 12 Connecticut 80-66 in the opening round
and lost 76-59 to Arizona (No. 2 ESPN/USA Today; No. 1 Associated Press) in the semifinals.
"Yes," Purnell answered bluntly when asked if his team now
deserved to be ranked. "We always felt we belonged in this field,
but I told the team they had to prove it. We did today and
yesterday and the day before that. When we stick to our plan we
feel we can play with anyone."
The Flyers (2-1) went up 65-55 with 5:05 to play on a 3-pointer
by Stanley. But the Terrapins (1-2), who lost 90-80 to No. 8
Illinois in the semifinals, chipped away at the lead and closed to
67-64 with 2:51 to play on a basket down low by Lonny Baxter.
Stanley made one of two free throws with 2:04 left, and after
Maryland's Juan Dixon missed a 3-pointer, the Flyers worked the
shot clock. With two seconds left on it, Maryland's Steve Blake
tied up David Morris of the Flyers, but the possession arrow
belonged to Dayton. Because the same team kept possession, the clock was not reset.
The ball was inbounded to Stanley in front of his own bench, and
he got off the 3-pointer just in time to give Dayton a 71-64 lead
with 1:06 left. It was his fourth 3-pointer in seven attempts.
"I looked at Tony and he looked at me and he knew he had to get
it up quick," Purnell said. "We ran the same play at the other
end of the court with one second left on the shot clock and we
didn't get that one off."
Stanley wasn't done with his heroics as he went down to the
other end and knocked the ball away from Maryland's Danny Miller.
"Once it went in I knew there wasn't time to celebrate,
Maryland's too good," Stanley said. "I just got back and played
defense."
Following the turnover, Nate Green made two free throws to give
the Flyers a 73-64 lead with 51 seconds left.
Baxter led the Terrapins with 20 points, while Terence Morris
had 17.
"Dayton went flat out harder for the ball than we did,"
Maryland coach Gary Williams said. "We've been through this
before. We started 0-3 in the ACC last year and finished second. We
just have to keep fighting and it will work out. We have to have
some guys playing better."
Green and Keith Waleskowski each added 10 points for the Flyers,
who finished with a 41-33 rebound advantage.
Maryland was outrebounded by 18 by Illinois.
"We thought we go inside and be stronger than they were,"
Williams said. "We're not making shots right now and we need to
have someone else to score inside besides Lonny. He's about it for
the power moves and that's a problem."
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