Las Vegas - Dayton is a young basketball team with a bright future. But because of two experienced seniors who provide leadership when it is needed most, the Dayton Dust Devils also have a pretty good present.
Danny Hopper and Trent Wood, Dayton's only two seniors who see substantial playing time, came through big time for the Dust Devils in their 54-40 win against Virgin Valley on Friday in the NIAA 3A State semifinals at the Orleans Arena.
The Dust Devils (22-9) advanced to play Faith Lutheran in today's 5 p.m. title game at the Orleans.
Dayton trailed 29-25 in the third quarter when Hopper and Wood took over to turn around the game.
"Those are our two seniors," Dayton coach Rob Streeter said. "We've looked to them all year."
The Dust Devils also overcame a dreadful second quarter in which they didn't score for almost seven minutes.
"I don't know what happened," Streeter said. "I'm not really sure. Our youth might have kind of caught up to us.
"An ugly win is better than a pretty loss. We live to fight another day. It wasn't our best team performance."
Dayton ended the first quarter with a 7-0 run to take a 15-7 lead at the end of the first period as Travis Wood hit a three-pointer to begin the run.
But Virgin Valley outscored Dayton 11-0 to take an 18-15 lead before Josh Wagoner scored the Dust Devils' first basket of the quarter with one minute, 10 seconds left to cut the deficit to 18-17. The basket began a 6-0 Dayton run to end the half as Shane Castro scored on a drive to the hoop and was fouled. Castro missed the foul shot, but Trent Wood rebounded the miss and scored on a putback to give Dayton a 21-18 halftime lead.
The Bulldogs came out and hit three threes on their way to take a 29-25 lead to begin the third quarter. That's when Dayton began looking inside to Hopper as Dayton went on a 14-2 run to take a 39-31 lead. Sophomore Erik Hopper also hit a key jumper during the run.
"We finally found a set that kind of caught them off balance and our kids did a great job attacking the gaps," Streeter said.
Danny Hopper scored 14 points and Trent Wood added 12.
"As seniors it's our job to step up," Hopper said. "Lead by example. I think everybody jumped on our shoulders and picked it up."
The Dust Devils continued to extend their lead as Josh Aaker scored on a layup after Dayton broke the Bulldogs' press to make it 51-40 and take any hope of a Virgin Valley comeback away.
Hopper has been to the state tournament all of the last three years and was there two years ago at the Lawlor Events Center when Dayton sustained a heartbreaking one-point loss in the finals against Moapa Valley.
"It's awesome," Hopper said. "Hopefully we get one this time."
Erik Hopper and Wagoner each added six points for Dayton.
n Contact Charles Whisnand at cwhisnand@nevadaappeal.com or call 881-1214.
