LAS VEGAS - The initial tears from senior Danny Hopper were there when he entered the locker room after the game with his Dayton High boys basketball teammates.
But Hopper was quickly able gain perspective on where he and the Dust Devils have taken their school's program over the last three years after a 63-48 loss to Faith Lutheran in the NIAA 3A State title game on Saturday at Orleans Arena.
"I'm really happy that we came this far," said Hopper, who has been to the state tournament all of the last three years that Dayton has made it. "I'm really happy that we came this far.I can't be too sad that we lost."
Dayton has gone from an average program to the only 3A team that has advanced to the state tournament the last three years.
"That's one of the things we talked about with our kids," said Dayton coach Rob Streeter, who has overseen the Dust Devil rising. "The consistency of our program. One of these times we'll win the last game. The bar's set. The expectations are there."
The Dust Devils have relied on their only two seniors who have played considerably a great deal all year in Danny Hopper and Trent Wood and Faith Lutheran played like it knew that. Hopper was held to eight points, four after scoring the first four points of the game to give the Dust Devils a 4-0 lead.
Wood was plagued by foul trouble throughout the game and also scored just eight points.
"Absolutely," said Streeter about expecting the Crusaders to key on Wood and Hopper. "We knew it going in."
Travis Wood hit a three-pointer to give Dayton a 9-6 lead and his brother, Trent hit a three to give the Dust Devils a 14-10 lead with one minute, 10 seconds left in the first quarter.
"I really liked the way we came out and started to play," Streeter said. "We controlled the tempo."
"At first we started hitting shots," Trent Wood said. "It was going good."
But the Crusaders controlled the rest of the game, holding Dayton from there on to just one field goal until Hopper scored with 2:10 left in the third quarter that cut Faith Lutheran's lead to 46-30.
At the end of the first quarter and to begin the second, the Crusaders went on a 12-0 run to take a 22-14 lead.
That's when Trent Wood picked up his third foul with 5:20 left in the half and had to sit out the rest of the half.
But Dayton managed to hold its own from the foul line, which is the main reason why the Dust Devils were able to stay in the game as long as they did. Erik Hopper hit 6-of-6 in the second quarter and finished the game 8-of-8 from the line as he led Dayton with 10 points.
Dayton was 12-of-12 from the foul line in the first half and a sensational 21-of-23 for the game.
Erik Hopper scored Dayton's only field goal of the second quarter which brought Dayton to within 30-24 with 1:05 left in the half. But the Crusaders finished the half on a 6-0 run to take a 36-24 halftime lead.
The Dust Devils were also hurt by the absence of Wood, who is their leading rebounder as the Crusaders scored many points on second chance baskets.
"It was my last game," Trent Wood said. "Just watching it I was mad. I wanted to be in there the whole game."
Josh Aaker's foul line jumper got Dayton to within 48-33 in the fourth quarter. After Dayton fell behind 59-39, Shane Castro nailed a three to make it 59-42. Late in the game, Daniel Shierholt, the Dust Devils' only other senior, received a moment he'll be able to remember when he scored on a baseline drive to cut the deficit to 61-46.
Aaker added six points for Dayton, a program that has come a long way in recent years.
"When I first got here where we were going to be in league was a question," Hopper said. "Now we expect to be first going into playoffs and we expect to be in this game. Dayton's at a whole new level."
n Contact Charles Whisnand at cwhisnand@nevadaappeal.com