5A high school basketball: Preparation pays off as Darts advance

KAYSVILLE — Davis' coaching staff did its homework.

It was very aware of Jordan's strengths and weaknesses heading into their 5A state tournament second round game on Tuesday, and those strengths were unlike that of typical No. 5 seeds.

"It's not like this was a slouch team. It's not like we got a great draw, and we're at home," said Davis coach Jay Welk, whose team was the No. 1 seed from Region 1. "It is a scary, scary draw to have those guys."

Welk also knew that if the Darts stuck with the game plan, they could exploit Jordan's weaknesses. It took three quarters, but it eventually paid off.

Davis capitalized on Jordan's foul trouble and methodically pulled away in the fourth quarter from the free throw line for the 59-52 playoff victory. The Darts will now face West Jordan today at 2:15 p.m. in the quarterfinals at the Dee Events Center.

"We knew they were not a team that went really deep into their bench, and we looked to see if we could get the foul count up," said Welk. "That was a definite strategy to try and do that."

Jordan leading scorer Kevin Goldsmith eventually fouled out in the fourth quarter. Three other Jordan starters committed four fouls as the Diggers were whistled for 24 fouls compared to 12 for the home team.

In a game with 13 lead changes and eight ties, Davis pulled away with offensive balance whereas Jordan found out it's tough to win on the road when relying almost exclusively on outside shooting.

In the first half Jordan used a balanced inside-outside attack to take a 25-24 at the half. That balance all but evaporated after halftime.

After taking nine 3-point shots in the first half, Jordan unleashed 18 treys in the second half — hardly a recipe for success in a foreign gym.

Davis didn't get lulled into the 3-point shooting contest. It attacked the basket in the second half, got Jordan big men Goldsmith and Nate Monson in foul trouble and ended up outscoring the Beetdiggers 17-1 from the free throw line in the second half and 22-6 for the game.

Leading 43-42 after the third quarter, the Darts opened the fourth on a 9-2 run to pull away for good. Jordan's Joe Mero hit two of Jordan's eight 3-pointers in the final two minutes, but the deficit was a bit too large to overcome by that point. Mero finished with a game-high 16 points on 5-of-15 shooting from 3-point range, whereas the rest of his teammates were 3 of 12 from long range.

Davis defended the interior just as well holding Jordan to 35 percent shooting for the game.

"You can't really handle Goldsmith or Monson one-on-one at the basket, they need some help and that's what we tried to do," said Welk.