Dayton, OH - Junior Darnell Harris (Baltimore MD/St. Frances) hit his first four three-pointers and finished with a team-high 22 points but it was his missed free throw with 1.4 seconds to play that helped the Dayton Flyers (12-4, 2-1 A-10) survive a gutsy La Salle University (7-9, 1-3 A-10) challenge on Saturday night at the University of Dayton Arena.

The Explorers built an eight-point lead in the first half behind Harris and his teammates' shooting but the Flyers' hit six of their own three-pointers to head into the half up 37-34.

The Explorers led once in the second half when Harris hit a pair of free throws with 18:37 left to make the score 39-37 but conceded that led 13 seconds later and played catch-up the rest of the way.

A pivotal point in the second half came with the Explorers trailing 63-57 with 9:13 to play when the Flyers' Andres Sandoval stole and entry pass and break out across mid-court where La Salle freshman Ruben Guillandeaux (Brooklyn, NY/St. Patrick's) reached out and committed and intentional foul to put Sandoval on line where he made two shots to give the Flyers' their largest lead of the night.

The Explorers continued to battle and stayed within striking distance until the exciting final half-minute which started with Dayton's Brian Roberts' only missed free-throw in 12 attempts. On the miss, with the Explorers trailing 81-76, with 26 seconds to play, freshman Rodney Green (Philadelphia, PA/Prep Charter) made a driving lay-up to cut the lead to four. The Explorers immediately fouled sending Marcus Johnson to the line. Johnson made one of two to make the score 82-78 with 18 seconds left in the game.

On the ensuing Explorer possession Green made another free throw and was fouled by Norman Plummer with ten seconds to go. Green made the foul shot and the Explorers trailed 82-81. Roberts was fouled again and returned to the line where he added his final two points in a career-high 34-point effort to make the score 84-81.

With five seconds remaining Green was fouled again but this time missed the front end and intentionally missed the second shot. The Flyers lost the ball out of bounds with three seconds left setting up a final play for the Explorers. Harris received the in bounds in the corner and was fouled on his three-point attempt with 1.4 second s to go. Harris missed the first shot, made the second and intentionally missed the third. An Explorer rebound was not possible, however, as Green was called for entering the three-point arc before the shot left Harris' hands - ending the Explorer effort and giving the Flyers their eleventh straight home victory.

The Explorers will return to action on Tuesday night at 7:00 PM when they play host to New Jersey Institute of Technology at Tom Gola Arena.