Dust Devils put one in the Hopper

DAYTON - Dayton boys basketball coach Rob Streeter recently benched sophomore point guard Erik Hooper because he was tentative at the offensive end of the floor.

With Travis and Trent Wood not starting for disciplinary reasons, Hopper was back in the starting lineup, and if he plays like he did Saturday, he might just work his way back there.

Hopper scored a season-high 13 points and pulled down five rebounds to help the Dust Devils to a 76-48 Northern Nevada 3A basketball win over Fernley.

"I don't know if I have it back or not," Hopper said. "We had some people that were late and I got the opportunity to start. I started the season not starting and then I started and then I lost my job. I wasn't playing well. It was the right thing for coach (Streeter) to do."

Hopper and his older brother, Danny, are not big scorers. They usually do the little things that don't make it into a box score, but on Saturday they looked to score and spark Dayton (5-2 league, 12-7 overall) in the first half against Fernley (0-7, 2-12).

Leading 15-12 with 2:41 left in the opening quarter, Dayton closed out the quarter with a 14-2 run to take a 29-14 lead.

Erik Hopper began the surge at the 2:21 mark and Josh Wagoner (11 points) drove the lane and converted a three-point play with 1:35 left. Travis Wood scored from the outside and on the next possession, Erik Hopper stole the ball and turned it into a three-point play to give Dayton a 25-12 lead.

Danny Hopper (11 points) scored Dayton's first seven points to make it 36-20 with 3:54 left. Fernley's Jose Hernandez (16 points) scored on a putback, but Dayton went on a 9-1 run to take a 45-23 lead with 1:03 left in the half. Trent Wood, who finished with 17 points, scored five points to lead the way. Erik Hopper contributed two baskets. Fernley scored the next two baskets, cutting the deficit to 45-27 at halftime.

Streeter credited good transition basketball and ball movement for the early onslaught.

"We were not aggressive our last game," Streeter said. "I think we shot only six or seven free throws. Today we were getting the ball up court and getting the ball in the paint and attacking the basket. We shot the ball well today."

Dayton hit 27 of 47 for the game, including 15 of 28 (52 percent) in the opening 16 minutes. After a 7 for 10 start, Fernley cooled off and hit just 6 of 19 in the second quarter.

The Dust Devils boosted their lead to 56-31 with an 11-4 run, as Josh Aaker scored five points and Trent Wood added four. Fernley never got closer than 19 the rest of the way.

GIRLS

Dayton 63, Fernley 53

The Dust Devils (5-2, 10-7) used a 16-3 third-quarter surge to hand the Vaqueros (6-1, 8-6) their first conference loss.

Dayton scored the first eight points of the third quarter, breaking a 29-all deadlock to take control of the contest.

The Dust Devils ended the third quarter with a 13-point lead, and then freshman Brittany Hill scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to make it 49-32 with 6:58 left. Fernley scored eight straight to make it 49-40, but the Vaqueros never got closer than seven the rest of the way.

Amanda Sbragia led Dayton with 21 points followed by Rebecca Monzello with 15 and Melony Cox with nine. Becky Murphy led Fernley with 24, including nine straight points in the fourth quarter, which kept Fernley within striking distance.

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