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Show Darts place 5th in 4-A state cage tournament Davis defeats Rams, 78-59 By GARY BLODGETT Sports Editor El Jf'i I A : f III V 1 .Wr- V ' ....v.M'.H...... i ' -J I . A , V ? ;'j , , 1 r ' . i v SALT LAKE CITY - Davis High School's Darts hustled their way to a fifth-place finish in the Class 4-A basketball championships Saturday Satur-day at the University of Utah Jon Huntsman Center. The Darts took the lead early in the first period and then coasted to an easy 78-59 victory over the Highland High Rams, who placed seventh sev-enth in the tourney. Davis won three games and lost only one in their climb to the sixth-place finish. Region One champions, the Darts lost to Taylorsville in the second round. They defeated SkyLne in the opening game and beat Hillcrest in Round Three before meeting Highland in the final round. Taylorsville went on to place second se-cond in the tourney, losing to the 4-A champion Bingham Miners. Davis had built up a 17 -point lead, 57-40, at the close of the third period against Highland. The Darts increased the margin to 24 points early ear-ly in the fourth period before coasting to victory. vic-tory. Both teams played their reserves late in the game. Davis Coach John Robison took his seniors out early, playing only juniors during the last three or four minutes. Davis had seven seniors and eight juniors on the 15 -member squad. Highland was effective, at times, with its infamous in-famous full-court press but the Darts found ways to crack the press and scored some easy layups. The Darts kept their composure and worked the ball offensively for the easy shots. Brian Kynaston should have been labeled a "thief" as he recorded three quick steals and passed to Craig Packer for two beautiful breakaway break-away layups the last basket gave the Darts its widest lead, 20 points, with only six minutes left in the game. Davis fell behind the hot-shooting Rams in the opening minutes but spurted ahead at 9-8, never to look back. The Darts led at the end of the first quarter, 17-13, and increased that lead to 38-30 at intermission. Highland didn't go to the foul line until the 1 waning seconds of the first quarter and it might have been a good thing. When the Rams did begin their parade to the charity stripe, they hit 11 straight foul shots eight consecutive 1 foul tosses by the Rams Kerry Hicks. ' But the Darts countered with eight foul shots 1 without a miss and managed to hold their slim lead at halftone. Davis built an eight-point halftime lead into a 13 -point margin with 1:45 ' left in the third period. And by the time the quarter ended, the deficit had increased to 17 points, and the Rams were faltering. Dave Newby was the big gun for Davis scoring scor-ing 19 points on seven field goals and five from the foul line. Jon Rhodes tallied 12, including one for two from the 3-point range, and Packer had 10 points on five goals. Although Kynaston failed to hit a goal, he had several key steals and j assists for baskets. The Darts connected on 26 of 44 field goal attempts, at-tempts, while the Rams could hit on only 15 of 43 attempts. Davis gained a berth in the final round by defeating Hillcrest, 70-52, on Friday. It was another solid round of offense, and a hustling defense, which spelled the difference rI for the Darts. The Kaysville cagers hit 50 per- cent from the field while holding the Huskies to only 18-63 from the field, for a field goal 1 average of only 28 percent. Despite being frigid from the field, the Huskies kept the game nip and tuck until early 0 in the third period when the Darts broke it open. 3 Davis led by only one at the close of the first quarter and by only two points at intermission, ; 22-20. Davis pulled ahead by 12 at the close of the A third period and increased the margin to 18 at ; the game's end. s Newby was again the Darts' leading scorer j with 20 points. He was followed by Brad Gardner Gard-ner and Todd Heath with 14 each. Hustle pays off for Darts i Coaches of Davis and Highland High couldn't complain about lack of rebounding hustle upper photo) in battle for fifth and seventh places in the Class 4-A State Basketball Tournament. Jon Rhodes gets off a baseline jump shot (side) in leading the Braves to a 78-59 victory in the final round. Attempting to block the shot is Kerry Hicks (No. 55) of the Rams, while a host of players wait for rebound. i , . A " ' i 4 . ' v. wm ; i-' 1 I ,J . f W J f I ' 1 Photos by Gary R. Blodgatt t M x ... l ft - ' ' ' p -y. 7 '; . '' t " - , A;- f |