LAYTON — One step at a time, Davis High is tiptoeing through the minefield of the Region 1 basketball war.
Battling a raucous crowd and an explosive Layton team, the Darts remained undefeated in league play with a tense 71-64 victory over the Lancers on Friday evening.
“I’m proud of the way we handled the crowd when Layton came back in the third quarter,” said Davis coach Jay Welk. “We didn’t let them run away and hung with them.”
The Lancers had taken a 52-51 lead entering the fourth quarter, before Abel Porter hit an off-balance jumper from the left angle to open the period and the Darts never trailed again as they gradually built their lead at the end.
“I thought we defended well late and got some stops. I knew we could score, but it was important to hold them down on the defensive side of the ball,” Welk said.
Layton went 5-of-17 over the final eight minutes and only shot two free throws, while the Darts got to the line 11 times and outscored the Lancers 20-12 in the last stanza.
Porter paced Davis with 22 points, including 8-of-11 from the charity stripe and added eight rebounds, while sophomore guard Jesse Wade also tossed in 22 counters on 8-of-15 from the field.
“Abel and Jesse are good shooters and we want the ball in their hands late in a game because they are skilled kids and do a good job,” Welk said.
Cole Hally, once again saddled with foul trouble, still got some meaningful minutes in the fourth quarter and finished with 11 points (six in the period) and yanked down six boards.
Layton was led by Josh Harrop, who came off the bench to score 14 points and add five rebounds. Sophomore Jarriesse Blackmon netted 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds and Mike Hibbert also chipped in 13 points. Jaden Trujillo had a fine floor game with six points, nine rebounds and seven assists before fouling out with 3:46 remaining and the Lancers down by three.
Keeping in mind this was a home game, the Lancers shot themselves in the foot by getting only 11 free throw attempts, while Davis toed the line 29 times on the night.
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