Dayton Falls to Westfield in Second Round of Tournament

The Dayton boy's basketball team saw its run in the Union County Interscholastic Athletic Conference end prematurely in a tough 54-46 loss to fifth-seeded Westfield.

Led by point guard Hugo Nolasco's game-high 21 points, the Blue Devils [9-10] held off a late surge by the 12th-seeded Bulldogs. Dayton, which earned the right to play Westfield after easily disposing of Oratory Prep in the preliminary round, couldn't capitalize on a torrid start when they raced out to a 7-2 lead.

Aaron Williams got the scoring started with a three pointer, a breakaway layup, and a tough putback off the offensive glass to give the Bulldogs [14-6] an opening surge. But that was about the only opening-quarter highlights for Dayton, as Westfield used an 11-2 run to close the quarter.

"We got off to a good start but we couldn't get it back together," said an almost baffled Williams, who registered a team-high 16 points before fouling out late in the game.

A rash of turnovers and defensive breakdowns plagued Dayton. During one first-quarter stretch, they committed five turnovers in six possessions, including three consecutively. It also didn't help that Nolasco was able to roam free through the defense and able to score at-will. During one stretch of Nolasco highlights, the point guard actually held an 11-7 first-quarter advantage over the entire Dayton squad.

"We just started breaking down on defense and nobody got back on defense to stop their man," said a despondent Kareem Jackson. "We were slacking off of him [Nolasco] and maybe underestimated him."   

The second quarter was pretty much a standstill, as neither squad could muster much offense. But the Blue Devils still managed to extend its lead, on the strength of a 6-0 run, to lead at the break, 21-14.

Dayton head coach Bob Martin couldn't fault the effort of his team but lamented the fact that shots just weren't falling and also seemed shocked at how Westfield's guards broke containment.

"We played hard but we just needed to knock some down," Martin said. "We were excited to play and were ready to go from the beginning, and we did what we wanted to do, but they also hurt us off the dribble."

Martin said part of the problem was perhaps Westfield's ability to adapt to Dayton's vaunted pressing defense. Even though Dayton managed to contain Nolasco in the second half, the Blue Devils still managed timely buckets and knocked down free throws in clutch moments.

This game will be best remembered for missed opportunities because Dayton's scheme and athletes were certainly on par with Westfield. But it was the execution that lacked and this will be a loss that won't sit well for days to come.

"We should've taken that game. I don't know what happened," said Williams afterwards. "But we just have to move on and get ready for the next game."

Williams also bemoaned the missed chances at the foul line for Dayton, as the eight-point margin of defeat is also the number of missed Dayton foul shots.

"If we would've made our free throws it would've been a whole different game," Williams sighed.

The microcosm of the night came when a Westfield player was called for a technical foul during a dead ball timeout. Ronnie Herman, who had just committed a personal foul, was shoved by the frustrated Blue Devil player, resulting in two shots and the ball. Dayton had finally cut the deficit to seven with 2:05 remaining and had Westfield on the ropes but couldn't capitalize on their momentum. The Blue Devils only made one of two free throws but Dayton couldn't close the gap because Justin Grant could only knock down one of his two technical foul shots. Elliot Karp's corner three rimmed out two possessions later and Westfield won the free throw battle down the stretch to seal the win.

The calling of the game will also be a topic of discussion, as neither side seemed too pleased with the ticky-tack calls. Both teams surpassed 20 attempts at the foul line but it was Westfield that took better advantage of timely makes from the stripe, making 11 fourth-quarter freebies.

"We had the guys who we wanted to foul but they knocked them down," said Martin. "That technical when he made one out of two and then we get an opportunity to get two [free throws] and get the ball back [but] we missed one of them…shots just didn't fall."

When asked his thoughts of the tight calls throughout, Martin was gracious in defeat.

"I don't want to make any excuses because we were still able to cut the deficit to five [late in the final minute]," Martin said. "We just needed to get more shots to fall."