Joyner sparks Dayton

DAYTON — Jon Joyner gave Dayton High instant offense off the bench in the first half, and the Dust Devils used that to break open a tight game and drill Rite of Passage, 72-51, Thursday night at the Sutro Classic.

Joyner scored nine of his 11 points in the first half, and Bernardo Macias scored 11 third-quarter points to lead Dayton to its second win without a loss. Dayton goes for win No. 3 tonight when it hosts Owyhee at 7:30 p.m.

In other first-night action, Bishop went 1-1 with a win over Silver Stage and a loss to Truckee, and Owyhee knocked off Douglas JV, 68-67. Action begins today at 3 with Silver Stage meeting the Douglas JV squad. At 4:30, Bishop meets Owyhee, and Truckee takes on ROP at 6. Action begins Saturday at 9 a.m. at both Dayton High and Dayton Intermediate.

“Our intensity was good,” Dayton coach Jason Santos said. “Guys were flying around and being disruptive. I thought we executed well offensively, but we didn’t finish well, especially in the first half.”

That’s where Joiner comes in. The stocky senior, more known for his exploits on the football field, keyed a 9-3 run in the first quarter which enabled Dayton to build an 18-10 lead with 1:28 left in the opening eight minutes.

Two minutes into the second quarter ROP was still hanging around, 20-16, and Joyner scored on a putback and layup to make it 24-16 with 5:04 left in the half. When the dust settled four minutes later, Dayton had a healthy 30-16 lead. Dayton led 37-21 at the half.

“Jon is good in the post despite the fact he’s not the biggest guy around,” Santos said. “He’s strong in there.”

And, Joyner is quick and active, and he was able to muscle his way through and around ROP defenders for some easy scores.

“I just go in and play the role coach Santos wants me to play whether it’s offense or defense, or both,” Joyner said. “I just work hard and hustle when I’m in there. That’s the main thing. I did a good job for the spot coach put me into.”

The third quarter belonged to senior center Bernardo Macias, who struggled to put the ball in the hoop in the first 16 minutes, scoring five points. He went off in the third quarter, sparking the Dust Devils to a 53-31 advantage entering the final quarter.

Macias scored Dayton’s first five points of the second half, extending the lead to 42-23 with 5:24 left. The teams traded baskets for the next couple of minutes, and then the Dust Devils got a layup from Macias, a putback by Macias and a trey by Dylan Monroe for the aforementioned 22-point bulge. Macias showed a variety of post moves, and pretty much had an easy time of it against the smaller ROP post players.

“He was missing everything in that first half,” Santos said. “He just couldn’t finish in the first half. We spend a lot of time in practice working on post moves.”

Dayton used a 12-4 run to start the fourth quarter to get its biggest lead of the night, 65-35, with 5:24 left. Sophomore Blake Blocher hit a couple of 3-pointers and Dallon Mendoza had a basket and a trey to key the surge.

Besides 16 from Macias and 11 from Joyner, Dayton got nine points from Austin Fletcher and eight from point guard Steve Thompson.