The Dayton boys basketball team clinched third place in the Northern 3A division with a 55-40 win over Spring Creek on Saturday at home.
Dayton (18-8) finished 10-6 in league play. The Dust Devils will head into the Northern 3A playoffs as the No. 3 seed when it opens in the first round at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Lowry. The top three teams advance to the NIAA/U.S. Bank 3A State Championships.
The Dust Devils also finished 10-1 at home. "We're certainly proud of that," Dayton coach Rob Streeter said.
Dayton again showed strong defensive intensity at the start, leading 20-4 after one quarter and 35-14 at halftime. Streeter started all five of his seniors.
"It was good way to end the season for our seniors at home," Streeter said. "We really set the tone early. Our seniors did a good job of setting the tone for us."
Ten of Dayton's 13 players scored. Joel Kiraly scored 11 points and Jake Deen added 10 points for the Dust Devils.
LOWRY 51, YERINGTON 44
Despite the loss, Yerington finished the season on a high note, giving second place Lowry all it could handle. Lowry finished 13-3 in the Northern 3A division while Yerington finished 3-13 in league play.
The difference of the game came at the foul line where Lowry was 16-of-21 while Yerington was just 2-of-3. The Lions trailed 25-20 at halftime, closed to within 38-37 after three quarters and actually led in the fourth quarter.
"It was a heckuva ball game," Yerington coach Daron Wildermuth said.
Heimy Olivera hit four three-pointers on his way to scoring 17 points and Wes Thomas added 16 points, including two threes for the Lions.
