WINNEMUCCA - Dayton's most ill-advised play during its 66-61victory over Yerington Friday provided an insight as to why the Dust Devils might have their best state championship shot yet.
With time running out in the third quarter and Dayton leading 47-39, Yerington's Ryan Rife groped at a loose ball just beyond the 3-point arc on the Dust Devils' side of the floor. Just as the buzzer sounded, Rife finally seized the ball and flung it in no particular direction Ð and Dayton's Jordan Stokes fouled him.
Stokes rolled his eyes but showed little other reaction, and Dayton coach T.W. Cunningham said nothing and allowed himself only a minute facial scrunch, even as Rife made all three free throws to bring Yerington within 47-42.
It could have been a game-altering mistake, but Dayton responded with a 7-2 run to start the fourth quarter and held on for the Northern 3A semifinal victory at the Winnemucca Indoor Events Center that propelled the Dust Devils into the 3A state tournament for the fourth straight year.
Dayton (21-6) will play Spring Creek, a 66-56 winner over Sparks in the other semifinal, (see the story farther down on this page) Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Events Center for the regional championship. Both Dayton and Spring Creek have qualified for the 3A state tournament; Yerington (17-11) will face Sparks at 12:45 for the Northern 3A's third and final ticket to state.
Stokes scored 19 points, Jacob Jones 13 and Shane Castro 11 for Dayton, which has lost two of the past three 3A state championship games, including a 63-48 defeat against Faith Lutheran last year. The Crusaders, who will be favored in the Southern 3A title game against Virgin Valley Saturday night, are known for their ability to avoid emotional fluctuations even in the midst of duress, and Dayton got a snootful of duress from Yerington Friday night.
The Lions singed the Dust Devils for 11 3-pointers Ð six by Rife, who finished with 23 points, and three by Jeremy Means (17 points). Fourteen of Rife's points and four of his distance darts came in the fourth quarter, and his final two 3s got the Lions within range of what could have been a comeback for the ages.
Yerington trailed 64-55 with 34 seconds to go after Stokes converted a steal into a layup, but he missed the front end of a one-and-one with 24.8 seconds left. Rife hit a 3 at 14.6, Dayton overthrew a long pass to Stokes on an early-release play, and Rife zeroed in from beyond the arc with 9.0 seconds left to pull Yerington within 64-61.
The Lions quickly fouled Erik Hopper, and had he missed both his free throws, Yerington would have had a chance to send the game into overtime with another 3. But Hopper was unerring with 7.0 seconds left to enable the Dust Devils to hang on.
"We did a good job of weathering it," said Cunningham, the former UNR football player and Lowry assistant who took over for current Douglas coach Rob Streeter this season. "We let them get hot, but when we needed execution, we got it."
Although Cunningham has been known to be verbally emphatic with his players during practices and meetings, he is a veritable Mikhail Gorbachov during games, usually kneeling silently, rarely remonstrating with the referees, and keeping his instructions succinct. Perhaps because of that, Dayton has shown a propensity for maintaining its composure in tight games; on their way to the Northern 3A regular-season championship, the Dust Devils played three overtime games (against Sparks, Truckee and Spring Creek) and won them all.