DAYTON - When Dayton High's Trent Wood started the game with a breakway dunk, you got the feeling that the Dust Devils were headed for a big night.
Wood finished with 20 points and Josh Aaker added 13 points and eight rebounds to lead the Dust Devils to an easy 68-44 win over Bishop Union in the first round of the 22nd annual Sutro Classic.
Dayton will look to make it two straight when it hosts Damonte Ranch tonight at 7:30 in a Pool A game.
"It was kind of an impressive start to the season," said Dayton coach Rob Streeter, who played his bench liberally throughout the game. "I don't think we've ever started a game with a shot (dunk) like that.
"I knew if we came out strong and started to run around and do what we like to do, we could create some havoc."
Indeed. After Wood's dunk, the Devils forced three turnovers, all of which were converted into baskets en route to a 15-2 lead after the first four minutes. Wood hit four of his five first-half attempts from the field in that stretch.
Josh Wagoner scored on a couple of nice drives to the basket enabling the Devils to keep a healthy lead after the first quarter, 23-11.
Dayton's defense went soft in the second quarter, as two three-pointers by Kevin Dalton (nine points) and a runner in the lane by Pesapi Spoonhunter sliced the lead to 35-28 before Trent Wood scored with 1:34 left and Shane Castro (nine points) added a three to get the lead back to 12, 40-28, at the intermission.
"I didn't like the second quarter," Streeter said. "They got too many good looks at the basket because we didn't get out on them. That's what our halftime talk was about.
"Castro gave us some great minutes and Wagoner gave us some good minutes."
Streeter's talk paid off. Dayton picked up the pressure defensively, and Bishop wilted.
The California team missed its first nine shots and turned the ball over three other times, leading to a 20-0 run by Dayton in the first 4:36 of the half which extended the Devils' lead to 59-28. Travis Wood scored all eight of his points in that span to lead the offense.
An 8-2 run to open the fourth quarter gave Dayton a 65-35 lead, and Streeter emptied his bench shortly thereafter.
The only things Streeter seemed disappointed with was the 9-for-17 effort at the line and the sloppy ballhandling at times.
"We have to execute better," Trent Wood said. "We have a lot of younger players. We started the game well and in the third quarter we did fine."
DAMONTE RANCH 62, WHITTELL 39
The Mustangs rolled to a 20-point halftime lead en route to an easy win in a Pool A contest.
Josh Buck scored 13 of his game-high 19 in the span. Andre Shaw and Chris Carlson added seven points apiece.
Brian Hanshew led the Warriors with 12 points and Chris Craig added 10.
SILVER STAGE 56, FERNLEY 46
Silver Stage bolted to a 15-point first-quarter lead and held off a second-half rally by the Vaqueros to win a Pool B contest.
Wyly Sandidge led the Nighthawks with 16 points, James Varner added 12 and Anthony Jefferies added 10.
Fernley's Austin Chaney led all scorers with 22 points, including 17 in the first half. Travis Munoz contributed 14.
NORTH TAHOE 60, LONE PINE 58
The Lakers withstood a 34-point fourth quarter by Lone Pine en route to a narrow Pool A win.
White Pine, which trailed 34-24 entering the fourth quarter, connected on six three-point field goals and went 12 for 15 from the foul line. Lone Pine closed the gap to two points with a three-pointer with less than five seconds left, but didn't get the ball back.
Sam Fahrner led North Tahoe with 24 points and 6-9 Ken Munsterman added 22. Brad Thorn and Pedro Perez led Lone Pine with 20 points apiece.
Darrell Moody can be reached at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com, or by calling (775) 881-1281