High school basketball: Darts shake off rust, make foul shots in win

KAYSVILLE — With so many football players on the basketball team this year, Davis High's deep run to the 5A football championship game last month has definitely impacted the basketball team's preparation.

And while there's plenty of rust to still knock off, Tuesday's 59-52 victory over Alta featured plenty of positives, most notably the team's 77 percent free-throw shooting.

After opening up a 16-point halftime lead by taking advantage of Alta's sloppy play, the Darts knocked down 27-of-36 free throws in the second half to hold on for the victory in an game that featured 57 total fouls and 77 free-throw attempts.

"We're pleased with a lot of things, we're disappointed with some things," said Davis coach Jay Welk. "We recognize there's still a ton of work to do."

Davis finished the game making 33-of-43 free throws, but turnovers prevented it from ever pulling away.

After scoring just seven points in the first half and 19 after three quarters, Alta had no choice but to apply a full-court press in the fourth quarter to try and claw back in the game. Davis struggled with the pressure throughout the quarter which allowed Alta to whittle the deficit to six on several occasions in the final two minutes.

"We didn't handle it well. I thought we made some poor decision at times," said Welk.

Just like it had the whole game though, the Darts knocked down free throws when they needed them most.

Josh VanWeezep was 6 of 6 from the line in the fourth quarter, and his two free throws with 30 seconds remaining effectively finished off the Hawks by increasing the lead to 58-50 just seconds after a Brayden Beckham 3-pointer had made it a six-point game again.

VanWeezep and Trevor Webb each finished with 13 points to lead Davis, while Alta's Kyle Davis led all scorers with 17 points.

The sloppy nature of Tuesday's game was an eye-opener for both teams. Though Welk was pleased with the victory, he wants to see his team be more aggressive offensively with the lead.

"We thought we got a little too tentative and a little too passive," said Welk. "We never want to get where we're not attacking offensively and I thought we quit attacking a little bit."

For Alta it obviously needs to avoid similar slow starts. It fell behind 23-7 at the half by committing 11 turnovers and making just 2-of-15 shots. The Hawks did a much better job of limiting the turnovers in the second half which helped them get into a rhythm as it shot 60 percent from the field in the second half.

e-mail: jedward@desnews.com