Mid-Major Media

Dayton v SC (Day two, Dayton Tournament)

This clash of 3A heavy weights played a familiar tune for one team, gave a new face to another.

Here are some takeaways:

Dayton was clearly the better team, and is no worse than the 3rd best overall team in the state. 

This Dayton team, however, is different than the last few Ron Hopp coached teams in one area: Dayton doesn’t have a stud. There is no Braedon Nowlin, no Tanner Lewis, no Zach Bernards. They play without a focal point on offense, which arguably makes them harder to game-plan for. You see flashes from Spink a Sophomore guard and Ashley a Junior but they play true team basketball.

Don’t take that the wrong way though. Dayton is incredibly solid. The Morales brothers, Tyler Spink, Dawson Ashley, etc. It’s a very, very solid roster that can go 7-8 deep. 

 SC may have been the more overall talented team, they might be the most talented team in the state, they just don’t play like it all the time. The urgency just wasn’t there in the first half, but in the second half you could see flashes, and they got themselves ahead in the 4th. But once again, the energy just left at that point. This has been a trend for a couple years now.

Sometimes it’s better to have a team that tends to play fast and out of control and try and slow them down…SC has the opposite of that problem. They play slow, and seemingly have no way to play fast or move the ball quickly. 

When Joe MaQuatish gets the ball in the post, it’s over. Deny him the ball, zone if you must. The man looks like Yao Ming with the ball in his hands. 

Ben Galceran can flat out shoot. He might have the quickest release of anyone at the 3A level. 

Big picture here, SC is still trying to figure themselves out now that Josh Baugher is done, but I think they took a step in the right direction last night. Dayton is set. They have everything you need to win a state title, except a stud. The same thing that might eventually plague Philomath at the 4A level may bite Dayton as well. It’s really hard to win a state championship without a top 3 player in the state. 

Side note, the Clatskanie girls team was solidly in the Dayton student section last night. So, that’s something.