Atlantic 10 Finals Preview

(W1) Dayton Flyers vs. (W4) Xavier Musketeers
In a season that has had St. Joseph’s dominating the headlines in the Atlantic 10, it’s two long time rivals that will be playing for the conference title Saturday.

Dayton and Xavier will continue their rivalry in the championship game as they play for the third time this season.

“The Xavier game is always special for both teams,” Dayton head coach Brian Gregory said. “It’s great that we get the opportunity to play them again this season.”

In their first game this season, the Flyers broke a five game losing streak to the Musketeers with a 74-67 victory at UD Arena. Senior Ramod Marshall led three Flyers in double digits with 21 points and fellow senior Keith Waleskowski added 17 and a game-high nine boards.

In their second match-up, Xavier continued their success at home against Dayton as they won for the 23 straight year 67-60. Romain Sato had 18 points to lead Xavier, while Waleskowski tried to lead the Flyers back from a 17 point deficit as he had game-highs of 24 points and 15 boards. The big story for Dayton was their three point shooting as they hit just one three in 18 tries.

Xavier is currently one of the hottest teams in the country and have won 12 of their last 13 games, including a 20 point victory over previously unbeaten St. Joseph’s Thursday.

“Xavier has great fire power and are really on a roll right now,” Gregory said. “They play with great poise and confidence and their three seniors have been playing very well for them.”

UD Arena is expected to be an electric atmosphere as both Xavier and Dayton fans have been loud supporters of their teams.

“Every time we play Xavier there is more intensity and there will be even more so in a championship game,” Waleskowski said.

With such great rivals playing in a raucous atmosphere, there aren’t many better championship games than Dayton Xavier.