SOUTH LAKE TAHOE - The South Tahoe High Vikings had seen this happen before.
After building an eight-point halftime lead against Dayton on Tuesday night, the Vikings crumbled in the fourth quarter and lost the nonleague boys' basketball game 51-46.
A rash of turnovers and an inability to prevent Dayton from second-chance opportunities keyed the Dust Devils' comeback. Dayton was more than willing to take what the Vikings gave them, seizing its first lead with 4 minutes, 40 seconds remaining and never trailing again.
Byron Trigueros' layup - his only basket - put Dayton ahead 46-42 with 1:40 left. Vince Capellino, however, answered for the Vikings, draining a short jumper on a pass from Chris Eidam.
After Tanner Wood was unable to convert a short jumper, an offensive foul prevented the Vikings from tying or going ahead.
Dayton gave the Vikings another opportunity to go take the lead with a blocking foul. But Danny Vallejo's three-point try from the corner found the back rim.
The Dust Devils were able to run some clock before Josh Goodfellow scored on a backcut cut and made his free throw, giving Dayton a 49-44 edge with 22.8 left.
Capellino then scored his 23rd and 24th points from the foul line before Dayton's Hans Meyer closed out the scoring with a layup.
It was South Tahoe's fifth straight defeat. Next up for the Vikings is the Atwater tournament.
With Capellino dominating inside early and Tony Stagnaro setting him up for easy baskets, the Vikings led by as many as 11 points, but a four-point second-quarter possession helped Dayton stay in the game.
STHS (1-6) seemed to regain control when Stagnaro scored and sank a free throw as the third quarter expired with the Vikings in front 38-33.
But fouls and turnovers combined to unravel the Vikings in the fourth quarter. Thomas Eidam, Stagnaro and Chris Klug each fouled out in the second half.
Meyer led Dayton with 13 points and Ryan Ransdell contributed 10. Vallejo scored eight points, including a pair of three-pointers, for South Tahoe.