Even though they’ve dominated the Northern 3A East for the past few seasons, trips to Dayton have been treacherous for the Fernley High School boys basketball team.
The DustDevils play a physical, slow-paced style that has given the Vaqueros fits, and have a raucous student section that considers Fernley their biggest rival, creating tense atmospheres. None was more so than last year, when the DustDevils beat Fernley 51-42 in a fierce battle that got heated at the end when Sheldon Jacobson was knocked into the wall on a hard foul while driving to the basket, leading to a technical foul against Fernley coach Cade Knutson when he argued an intentional or flagrant foul should have been called.
No such drama unfolded Friday night, although the game was as competitive as ever, before the Vaqueros pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 52-44 win to stay undefeated in the Northern 3A East with a 5-0 record.
This week the Vaqueros were scheduled to play their final two road games of the season, at second-place Fallon Wednesday night and at Lowry Saturday, another place where the Vaqueros haven’t often played their ‘A’ game.
Sheldon Jacobson scored 21 points and Bryce Dunagan-Stephens added 16 to lead the Vaqueros, but it wasn’t until a 12-2 run to start the fourth quarter that Fernley put any separation on the scoreboard between themselves and the DustDevils.
Dayton’s leading scorer Isaac Powell also scored 21 points, 14 of those in the first half when the Vaqueros led just 25-22.
“We didn’t do a very good job in the first half,” coach Cade Knutson said. “He had 14 points, which is too many when you’re solely focused on shutting somebody down. It’s a credit to him and the type of player he is.”
Knutson said the Vaqueros didn’t shoot well in the first half and didn’t get many offensive rebounds. “All in all, not a very good offensive game for us,” he said.
The Vaqueros didn’t hit their first field goal until nearly six minutes into the game, a 3-pointer by Stephens that tied the game at 5. But Dayton’s Tyler Kemp scored on an offensive rebound and was fouled, making the free throw to complete the three-point play, putting Dayton back on top 8-5.
Fernley scored the final six points of the first quarter, but Powell scored eight points in the second quarter to keep the game close while the Vaqueros were struggling to score.
“We have got to do a lot better job on the glass, just in general, and we’re not getting to 50-50 balls the way we need to,” Knutson said. “It feels like we don’t get any of them, so there’s some things that we need to get a lot better at.”
Fernley opened a 34-27 lead with 4:40 left in the third quarter, then didn’t score again in the quarter while Dayton closed back to 34-33, before the Vaqueros finally pulled away with their run in the fourth quarter.
“Ultimately happy to go there and get a win,” Knutson said. “It’s a difficult place to play. They give us their best game every time we play them, but at the end of the day proud that we were able to go in there and get the win, but you walk out of there not feeling like you played very well.”
This week Knutson expects two more challenges, at Fallon against what he calls the most athletic team in the league outside of the Vaqueros, and a team that badly outrebounded Fernley in the first meeting even though the Vaqueros won the game, 52-44. He also said the Vaqueros haven’t played well at Lowry the last few visits.
“Winning any road game is difficult, so definitely two challenges, and we’re looking forward to being able to play some home games after we get through this last stretch on the road,” Knutson said.
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