Dayton Loses in First Game Since the Death of Daniels

Dayton University played its first game since the death of starting center Chris Daniels, losing to Fordham, 68-58, Saturday.

Daniels, 22, died early Thursday of heart-related problems, and Dayton’s home game against LaSalle that evening was postponed. The team decided to make the trip to the Bronx for the Atlantic 10 game with Fordham, then return for Daniels’ funeral Monday in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.

“Prior to the game I told our players to use Chris as an inspiration, not an excuse,” said Dayton Coach Oliver Purnell, who was an assistant at Maryland in 1986 when Len Bias died of a cocaine overdose. “Now that we’ve played a game I feel better, and I hope the players do too. We are still affected by this but we have to try and be as normal as possible.”

Dayton’s next game is Saturday at home against St. Bonaventure.

Marco Pikaar replaced Daniels at center for Dayton (11-11, 2-8) and had six points, five rebounds and two blocked shots. Daniels was the team’s second-leading scorer (12.9) and third-leading rebounder (6.0), and was second in the nation in field-goal percentage (.679).

“It was a weird feeling,” Pikaar said. “I may have started at his position, but I will never accomplish what he did.”