Vaqueros ride away with Sutro Classic

BY DARRELL MOODY

Nevada Appeal Sports Writer

DAYTON " The Fernley Vaqueros made the most of their first-ever appearance in the Sutro Classic finals.

Fernley, which had lost a nine-point lead, got a buzzer-beating tip-in from Jordan Harry to edge Silver Stage 47-46 Saturday afternoon at Dayton High School.

In other games, Dayton won third-place honors with a 54-36 win over Wooster; Battle Mountain pounded Lone Pine (Calif.) 61-38 to win the consolation title and Bishop hammered Rain Shadow Charter Community School 83-61 in the seventh-place game.

Fernley led 42-33 after three quarters, but Silver Stage turned up the pressure with an 11-2 surge, tying the game at 44 with less than a minute remaining.

Fernley's Bryce Baker gave the Vaqueros a 45-44 lead with 38.7seconds remaining. Silver Stage worked the clock down to 14.7, and unable to get a good look at the basket, called timeout. Jared Roberts gave the Nighthawks a 46-45 with two free throws with 8.5 seconds remaining.

Fernley inbounded the ball and got two shots off, both unsuccessful, and then Harry tipped the ball in, barely beating the buzzer.

"We wanted to spread them out," Fernley coach Dave Burns said. "We wanted Jordan to drive and draw a foul (or make a shot) or kick it out to Cade (Knutson) for the last shot. I thought the call could have gone either way."

The win capped a great weekend for the Vaqueros, who improved to 3-1 on the young season.

Harry finished with 18 points and Francisco Huerta added nine. Roberts led Silver Stage, 2-1, with 15 points and Jeff Fisher, the star of the Nighthawks' win over Dayton on Friday, finished with nine points.

Meanwhile, Dayton improved to 2-2 with its easy victory over Wooster, and coach T.W. Cunningham said his inexperienced team made some good strides, especially on defense.

"I think defensively we did," Cunningham said. "I thought for this time of the year the defense was good. Obviously it's going to have to get better."

On Saturday, Dayton held Wooster without a field goal for the first seven minutes of the contest. One would expect that the Dust Devils would have an impressive lead.

Wrong. The Dust Devils only led 8-3 because they couldn't get out of their own way in the first quarter for the third straight game. Dayton turned the ball over five times and went 2-for-6 from the field.

"I don't know why," Cunningham said when asked about the slow starts. " Maybe it's nerves."

Dayton more than made up for the slow start with a tremendous second quarter, outscoring the Colts 19-10 for a 27-13 halftime lead.

Wooster's Tony Wright scored the first bucket of the quarter, but Dayton roared back with eight straight points. Chris Sikora started the surge with a layup, and after two Wooster turnovers, Jeff Peterson was fouled and converted one of two at the line to make it 11-5.

Kage Walker, an all-tournament selection, scored on a baseline jump shot and then knocked down a 3-pointer to make it 16-5. Wooster trimmed the lead to 22-13 late in the second quarter, but another 3-pointer by Walker and two free throws by Connor Conroy made it 27-13 at the break.

"We just finished plays (better)," Cunningham said. "I thought our defense was good. We didn't give up any layups."

Dayton suffered through a slow third quarter, outscoring the Colts 12-11 for a 39-24 lead. Tannar Wood scored six of his game-high 18 points in the quarter.

"The first and third quarters have been bad in all four games this season," Cunningham said.

An 8-1 surge in the fourth quarter enabled Dayton to take a 50-27 lead with 5:01 remaining.

In the consolation battle, Battle Mountain outscored Lone Pine in the second quarter to take an 18-point lead.

Mike Miller led the Longhorns with 21, 12 of those coming in the first half. Martin Paris also reached double figures with 10 points, seven of those coming in the first half.

Chas Munis led Lone Pine with 12 and Jeremy Pierce added nine.

Beau Romero scored 25 points and Justin Barnes added 17 for Bishop. Romero and Barnes combined for 30 of Bishop's 43 first-half points.

Nate Brown led Rain Shadow with 24 points.

- Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com or (775) 881-1281