Dust Devils fall short down the stretch

DAYTON - For the first 25 minutes of the game, the inexperienced Dayton Dust Devils gave Truckee all it could handle.

The other seven minutes? Well it wasn't pretty, and it was the final seven minutes of Wednesday's game that cost the Dust Devils a chance to pull off an upset.

In a span of 129 seconds, the Dust Devils were outscored 12-0 and ended up on the short end of a 52-40 decision in a Division IA boys basketball game.

The Dust Devils won't have much time to lick their wounds. They visit Silver Stage today at 3:30 p.m.

"We're young and inexperienced," Dayton coach Jason Santos said. "We have a lot of sophomores this year, and we have sophomores with just freshman (team) experience.

"We just got hammered on the boards. We're not very strong or physical. That will come in a couple of years."

Dayton trailed 27-24 with 2:58 left in the third period, but Davis Winebarger and Josh Joyner led a 9-4 run as the Dust Devils went up 33-31 with 7:04 left in the game. Winebarger started the surge and then Joyner, known more for his football exploits, converted a three-point play to give his team a 29-27 lead with 2:23 left. Aaron Dado's putback tied the game at 29 after three.

Dado had another putback to give the Wolverines a 31-29 lead, but lay-ups by Joyner and Winebarger enabled Dayton to reclaim the lead, 33-31, with 7:04 remaining. That's when the game took a decided turn in Truckee's advantage, as Dayton scored just one field goal the rest of the way.

Kyle Mello scored on, you guessed it, an offensive rebound to tie the game at 33 with 6:43 left. Nick Morgan drained a 3-pointer, and following a Dayton mistakes, Mello scored in the key to make it 38-33. After another Dayton turnover, Morgan made a lay-up for a 40-33 lead, and David Burnham's 3-pointer capped the surge and made it 43-33 with 4:34 remaining.

Joyner led Dayton with nine points, while Jayson Fraser, Stevie Thompson and Bernardo Macias added seven points apiece.

Burnham led Truckee with nine, while Graham Miller and Morgan added eight. Adam Morgan and Nick Oberritter added seven.

GIRLS

Truckee 30, Dayton 22

DAYTON - For one of the few times this season, the Dust Devils had problems putting points on the scoreboard.

After scoring eight points in the first 4-minutes 34-seconds, the Dust Devils only managed 14 in the final 27 1/2 minutes en route to a 30-22 loss to the Wolverines Wednesday night in a Division IA basketball game.

"That's the first time we've had trouble not scoring," said Dayton coach Cliff Serawop, whose team dropped to 0-9. "At the beginning of the year we were at least in the high 20s. We've been getting into the 40s.

"The big game changer was their press. We had a lot of problems handling it tonight. We kind of panicked; took quick shots."

Taylor Ingersoll scored six of Dayton's first eight points, and she managed only one basket in the last three-plus quarters.

"We needed to utilize the post a lot more," Serawop said.

The game was tied at 8 after one and 14 at the half, and in each quarter the Dust Devils had offensive lapses. In the first quarter, Dayton went 3:24 without a point, and in the second quarter Dayton went 4 1/2 minutes without a point.

The offensive woes continued in the second half, as Dayton went more than five minutes without a point. Olivia Duner and Jackie Bolton scored a bucket apiece to make it 18-14. Ashley Sandy and Cheyenne Strong scored to tie the game at 18 with 2:49 left in the third.

Dayton went scoreless the remainder of the period, going 0-for-5 from the field and turning the ball over four times in that span. Duner's two baskets sparked a 6-0 quarter-ending run by the Wolverines.

A basket by Strong closed the gap to 26-22 with 4:51 left in the game, but that was the extent of Dayton's offense.