Dayton's #44 attempts a layup with less than a second left in the first half against Smith Valley. Dayton lead 42-26 at the half. Photo by Brian Corley
DAYTON -- It took the Dayton High Dustdevils a little while to get going on Thursday night in the first round of the 19th annual Sutro Classic. But once they did, it was all over for Smith Valley.
Brian Lahmann scored nine of his 11 points in the first quarter before Jake Deen finally settled down to lead the Dustdevils past the Bulldogs 75-49 at Dayton High.
Dayton (1-0) will play Geyserville (Calif.) tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the tournament semifinals. The Bronchos beat Incline 54-51 on Thursday.
"It was a nice way to start the year," said Dustdevil coach Rob Streeter. "We committed far too many turnovers but I expected that we'd have some first game jitters. We were just way too fired up. But I was definitely happy with our effort."
Deen finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds, but the 6-foot-3 junior didn't make his first field goal until the second quarter. Smith Valley (0-1) actually held a 9-6 lead with just over three minutes left in the first quarter. But Justin Harris made a couple baskets and Lahmann followed with three-straight field goals as Dayton led 19-13.
In the second, the Bulldogs' Justin Hansen made it 22-18 with one of his three 3-pointers on the night. Dayton, however, countered with a 15-1 run and the Bulldogs never threatened after that. Harris' 3-pointer with 3:23 left in the first half gave the Dustdevils a 37-19 lead and they went into the break up 42-26.
Hansen finished with 21 points to lead the Bulldogs. Smith Valley shot just 6-of-34 from the field in the first half but stayed close because it shot 12-of-17 from the free throw line and Dayton turned the ball over 13 times. The Dustdevils ended up turning the ball over 28 times in the game.
Then in the second half, Deen took over. He scored 12 of his game-high 23 points in the third quarter as Dayton extended its lead, 59-35, going into the fourth.
"Jake Deen's going to be our horse, we're going to ride him the entire season," Streeter said. "He's going to be a great player for us. A lot of our offense will be dictated around him. He'll shoot close to 50 percent. He wasn't anywhere near that tonight but he got the amount of rebounds we expect from him."
Anthony Cupp's basket with 5:13 left in the game gave the Dustdevils a 69-39 lead, their biggest of the game. Cupp finished with eight points and Harris and Joel Kiraly each scored 10. Kiraly also pulled down seven rebounds. The size and depth of Dayton just wore down Smith Valley, which was outrebounded 47-29. Other than the turnovers, which primarily came from the perimeter players, Streeter was happy with the win.
"That's an area of concern for us," Streeter said of his backcourt. "We knew that coming into the season, but the pressure from Smith Valley forced a lot of those turnovers. But we'll get better throughout the season."
In other first round action, North Tahoe beat Bishop (Calif.), 61-47 and will face Virginia City tonight at 6 in the other semifinal. The Muckers beat Spanish Springs 53-45 on Thursday. The Bulldogs will play Incline today at 4:30 in a losers bracket game.
