The Dayton High boys basketball team needed a comeback in overtime to keep control of the Northern 3A race.
Dayton improved to 7-0 in the Northern 3A with a 68-67 win over Truckee on Friday at home. But Dayton coach T.W. Cunningham was not pleased with the overall effort. "It was three steps back with effort, especially with defense and rebounding," he said.
Dayton trailed 67-63 when Shane Castro hit a three-pointer to pull the Dust Devils within 67-66 with 1 minute, 45 seconds left. The Dust Devils then forced a turnover with their pressure that led to Jordan Stokes' layup and a 68-67 lead.
Truckee decided then to hold for the last shot and Dayton secured the win with a defensive stand, something it was unable to do at the end of regulation when the Wolverines scored with one second left to force a 58-58 tie and overtime.
Dayton did play much better defense in the second half after trailing 38-33 at halftime and had outscored Truckee 16-9 in the fourth quarter to take a 58-56 lead. "We made plays when we needed to," Cunningham said.
Stokes scored 22 points, Erik Hopper had 12 points and Castro added 11 points.
In the junior varsity game, Dayton suffered its first league loss, losing 47-44. Cory Linberg scored 14 points, Jesse Vickers had 11 points and Rory Torvick added 10 points for Dayton.
GALENA 58, SPANISH SPRINGS 44
Galena led 36-16 at halftime and was never seriously threatened, resting its starters in the fourth quarter.
Galena coach Tom Maurer came into the game with a goal of holding Spanish Springs to 35 points and its leading scorer, Doug Williams, to eight points. "Defensively I wasn't happy," Galena coach Tom Maurer said.
Maurer was pleased with J.D. Peters, who held Williams to six points through three quarters. Williams finished with 12 points. "I guess it was a decent win," Maurer said. "It was a nice win."
Maurer said his team still didn't control the tempo the way it should have in the second half. "I'm just going to basically show them film," he said. Luke Babbitt led Galena with 20 points.
RENO 86, DOUGLAS 67
An early 12-3 swing launched the Reno Huskies past the Douglas boys' basketball team in Minden.
Reno had built an early 20-13 lead, but a 3-pointer from Austin Morgan, followed by a Douglas turnover, followed by a 3-pointer from Casey Brown sparked the run that boosted the Huskies.
After Brown's shot, Douglas turned it over again, and Reno's Kyle Elliot brought it back in for a layup and a foul.
James Vacek then hit a 3-point shot for Douglas, but Morgan came back down to seal off the run with yet another 3-pointer for Reno.
Morgan finished with a game-high 19 points, coming off the bench for the Huskies.
Douglas fought its way back into the game several times, first with an 8-0 run midway through the second quarter.
Keith Olson started it off with a basket for the Tigers, Nate Whalin followed, Olson added another and David Laird closed it up with another layup.
Reno's J.J. Mulligan broke it up with a basket, but Kevin Emm came back down with a basket for the Tigers and Laird again scored on a nice pass play that bounced off Whalin and Emm on the way.
Douglas closed Reno's lead to eight points early in the second half on a basket by Jeff Nady, and later narrowed it to seven early in the fourth quarter on a basket and two foul shots by Olson but that was as close as the Tigers would get.
Reno came back with a 14-4 run to effectively seal the game.
Olson led the Tigers with 17 points, Emm scored 10, Nady and Laird each had eight and Whalin and Joe Nady each had six.
Douglas dropped to 7-9 overall and 2-1 in league. Reno, currently ranked No. 1 in the northern region improved to 14-3, 3-1. The Tigers travel to Carson Tuesday night at 7 p.m.
"I was very pleased with the effort and the intensity we played with," Douglas coach Rob Streeter said. "If we keep playing that hard we're going to win a lot of games in our league."
SPRING CREEK 43, YERINGTON 35
A short-handed Yerington team (4-3 in the Northern 3A) slowed down the tempo, but Spring Creek pulled away at the foul line, hitting 7-of-11 free throws down the stretch. Yerington played without two starters, Jeremy Means and Scott Veil. The Lions held Spring Creek to one point in the second quarter, but couldn't fully take advantage as they trailed 14-12 at halftime after outscoring the Spartans 4-1 in the period. Spring Creek led 22-16 going into the fourth quarter.
"That's what kind of tempo we needed," Yerington coach Daron Wildermuth said. "We needed to be offensively minded also. The kids, they played hard."
Gary Smith scored 12 points and Marcus Ness added 10 points for Yerington.
GALENA GIRLS 68, SPANISH SPRINGS 28
The Galena girls basketball team (14-4, 4-0) used its pressure to force numerous turnovers on its way to taking a 25-2 lead after one quarter and the Grizzlies cruised from there. Caitlin Crofts scored 11 of her 20 points in the first quarter. Caitlin Anderson, Langley Iverson and Amy Scott all added nine points for Galena.
RENO 65, DOUGLAS GIRLS 36
Douglas again put together a solid first half, building a 20-18 lead on the No. 7 Reno Huskies despite not getting any field goals from standout post player Monica Knight.
Knight, who did hit eight free throws in the first half, found her game in the second half with eight points in the third quarter alone.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, Reno found its game as well.
Reno scored 37 points in the second half, including a 29-8 third quarter to blow past the Tigers 65-36.
The Huskies broke the game open on a 17-0 run in the third quarter, highlighted by 3-pointers from Angela Ceccarelli and Britton Murdock.
Ceccarelli led Reno with 13 points, Hannah Carlson had 12 and Raimy Novacek had 11.
Knight finished with 18 points to lead all scorers and Jessica Waggoner had six.
TRUCKEE 51, DAYTON GIRLS 32
The Dayton girls basketball team couldn't overcome a slow start after falling behind 13-2 after one quarter and 29-10 at halftime. Brittany Hill scored 15 points and Rebecca Monzello added 10 points for Dayton.
"We had a tough start," Dayton coach Shari Andreasen said. "We came out a little flat, got in a hole early and had to fight back. We really picked it up in the second half and never gave up."