Having already clinched the Lahontan league's No. 1 seed and the home playoff game that goes along with, Dayton was trying to avoid a letdown against Lovelock on Saturday.
The Dust Devils did just that on senior night taking a 60-50 win. Dayton trailed after by four (10-6) after the first quarter, but scored 19, 18 and 17 points in the next three quarters for the win.
Dylan Taylor led the team with 16 points. Jake Koch and Marcos Macias each added 12 points and Tyler Firestone added 10 points.
"It was a close back and forth game," coach Jason Santos said. "They play some solid defense."
Santos said Lovelock did a lot of hand checking and it was, "Good for us. We need to learn to execute and get through it."
Dayton finishes 20-5 overall and 11-1 in league. The Dust Devils will host South Tahoe at 6 p.m. Friday with a state tourney berth on the line.
In a pre-conference meeting, South Tahoe took a 51-49 win and during the regular season, Dayton won 46-44 at home.
"I am feeling good," Santos said about the game. "It is huge for us to play at home. We are more comfortable ... We just have to take care of business."
GIRLS BASKETBALL
DAYTON DROPS LAST GAME
The Dayton girls basketball team ended the season with a 66-33 home loss to Lovelock on Saturday.
Destinee Serawop led the team with eight points; Taylor Hill added six points and Erin Edison added five.
"I was happy with the way we played," coach Cliff Serawop said. "We ended our season on a good note."
The young Dust Devils could return nine players to next year's squad.
"Where we ended here," Serawop said, "that is where I hope we pick up from (next year) and move forward."
FRESHMAN BASKETBALL
DAYTON GIRLS RALLY IN FINALE
The Dayton freshman girls basketball team season ended its season on a high note on Saturday.
The Dust Devils, who had previously lost 54-9 and 58-14 to Elko, fell 42-28 and then bounced back with a 33-27 win over Lowry.
Against Elko, Ashley Sandy scored 16 points and 15 rebounds to lead Dayton.
After a bad shooting first half, the Dust Devils found themselves down 13-5 at half, but stormed back for the win.
"In the first half, I don't think we could have played worse," said coach Ben Halverson. "We came together at the half and played as a team and pulled out a win."
Halverson said the difference was the Dust Devils ability to cause turnovers and get easy points off of them.
Lettie Lynch led the team with 10 points. Yami Salgado added a season-high seven points, all from the free throw line. Clare Cerda chipped in with seen points.
Dayton finishes the season at 8-14.
