The Davis Darts will take on the Fremont Silverwolves at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Davis has three straight wins, Fremont has seven straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the court.
If Fremont heads into halftime all tied up, they better play a good second half: that's when Davis took over last week. Davis narrowly escaped with a victory as the team sidled past Weber 66-63. Given the Darts' advantage in MaxPreps' Utah basketball rankings (they are ranked fifth, while the Warriors are ranked 37th), the result on Friday wasn't entirely unexpected.
Davis' win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was JT Turley, who went 6 for 12 on his way to 17 points along with five assists and three steals. The team also got some help courtesy of Coleman Atwater, who posted 15 points and five steals.
Davis smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 15 offensive rebounds. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least eight offensive boards in 12 consecutive games.
Meanwhile, Fremont came up short against Layton on Friday and fell 58-45. While the Silverwolves didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Lancers 12-6 in the first quarter.
The match pitted two dominant guards against one another in Easton Duft and Karter Miller. Miller had a great game and dropped a double-double on 14 points and ten assists. Meanwhile, Duft did his best for the losing side, putting up seven points.
Fremont's defeat dropped their record down to 4-14. As for Davis, their victory was their ninth straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 15-3.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Davis has been crashing the rebounds this season, having averaged 30.8 boards per game. However, it's not like Fremont struggles in that department as they've been averaging 23.6 boards. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Davis strolled past Fremont in their previous matchup on January 10th by a score of 69-51. The rematch might be a little tougher for Davis since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
