BRAD HORN/Nevada Appeal Dayton's Jerrin Foster, 11, and Josh Goodfellow, 10, celebrate the Dust Devils win over Sparks at Lawlor Events Center during their 3A Nevada State Basketball Championship semi-final game against Sparks on Saturday.
BY THOMAS RANSON
Appeal News Service
RENO - Three straight appearances to the state finals and no title?
Dayton coach T.W. Cunningham doesn't want to make it four in a row.
"It's gotta come on your side sometime," Cunningham said.
The Dust Devils punched their fourth straight ticket to the championship game in derailing Sparks, 48-45, Friday night in the semifinals of the Class 3A state boys' basketball tournament at Lawlor Events Center.
"When you've got good players, it's pretty easy to be successful," Cunningham said.
Dayton will face a familiar and frustrating foe in tonight's title game.
In the last three seasons, the Dust Devils have lost to Faith Lutheran in every state title game. Third-seeded Dayton takes on the South's top seed tonight at 5 p.m.
Getting past Sparks, though, may have lifted the Dust Devils' spirit another level after losing to the Railroaders in the regional tournament's semifinals.
"We made mistakes, but they just kept playing," Cunningham said. "They did what they've done all year."
Ryan Ransdell led Dayton with 17 points and Jerrin Foster added 11, including three 3-pointers. Tannar Wood scored 10 points.
After a fourth-quarter lapse allowed Sparks to tie the game at 42 with 3:08 left, Foster answered with his third 3-pointer. The release was perfect but it hit the top of the backboard and then rattled in the hoop.
"Huge. That was a big shot," Cunningham said.
But Dayton's eagerness to score instead of hold onto the ball gave Sparks a chance to tie the game. Enter the Northern 3A's Most Valuable Player.
Zack Quilici, who posted a game-high 28 points, drained a 3-pointer with 1:27 to tie the game at 45. Quilici scored 17 points in the first half with his team trailing 27-25.
"We took some bad shots and we had bad lapses defensively," Cunningham said.
Quilici had another chance to hit a 3-pointer and give his team the lead, but Ransdell's steal led to a free throw and a 46-45 lead.
"He's the league MVP. That's what he's supposed to do," Sparks coach Dick Lee said. "The last play was designed for him. We put the ball in the best player's hands. We wanted to let him make the play."
Ransdell and Foster, though, answered with clutch free throw shooting. Ransdell sunk one free throw at the 48-second mark and Foster hit a pair 39 seconds later.
YERINGTON GIRLS 47, LOWRY 34
Round 4 goes to the Lions.
Yerington avenged its regional championship loss and knocked off Northern 3A foe Lowry, 47-34, Friday night in the semifinals of the Class 3A state girls' basketball tournament at Lawlor Events Center.
The Lions, who beat the Buckaroos for the second time in four tries this season, advance to today's championship game for the first time since 1990. Third-seeded Yerington takes on the North's second seed, Truckee, at 3:20 p.m. The Wolverines defeated Pahrump Valley, the South's top seed, in double overtime.
Karrie-Ann Quartz scored a game-high 16 points and Kayla Lommori added 13 for the Lions. Kiara Ross scored nine points and Angela Marraccini had six.
"One thing we wanted to work on was the way we started to the game, the effort," Yerington coach Dorsey Thom said. "We wanted to set the bar for effort high. We really concentrated on rebounding this time."
Yerington opened the game with an 11-2 first quarter and held Lowry scoreless for 6 minutes, 12 seconds. Savannah Carlo's basket with 7:20 left in the second quarter cut the deficit to 13-4. The Lions, though, responded with six unanswered points and led 23-13 at halftime.
Morgen Thacker led Lowry with 11 points and Carlo added nine. Skylar Estes finished with seven points.