LAYTON — Sure, the end result was the same as it was the first time these two teams tangled in mid-January at Kaysville: A Layton High win and a Davis loss.
But that might've been the only similarity between the two matchups after they squared off for Friday night's Region 2 rematch.
Senior guard Blake Hansen drove for a decisive layup with 10.6 seconds left on a perfectly executed, length-of-the-court inbounds play, giving Layton a four-point lead that allowed the Lancers to survive a 3-pointer by the Darts' Tyson Garff just before the final buzzer in a dandy 59-58 duel played in front of an amped-up crowd Friday night.
Clinging to a 57-55 lead with 14 seconds remaining, Layton's Carson Lomax inbounded the ball to Braxton Libby from under the Darts' basket. Libby then flipped a quick pass to Hansen, who was hustling down the floor at top speed, taking the ball near midcourt and driving all the way to the hoop for a huge bucket that extended the Lancers' lead to 59-55.
"We actually ran that same play against Viewmont three days ago," Hansen said, "and I got that wide-open layup in that same situation (in a 51-46 victory over the Vikings). So we thought 'Let's draw up that same play' and it worked again — just like we drew it up. Braxton hit me with a nice pass and I was wide open from there."
Indeed, the play worked to perfection again to help the Lancers improve to 7-2 in Region 2 and 12-6 overall.
"We were fortunate because we got to practice that the other night against Viewmont, so it's something we've run in the past and it's worked for us in the past," Layton coach Kelby Miller said. "Basically we told 'em, 'Hey, if you're open, go ahead and make the layup' and push it to a two-possession game for us.' So, yeah, it worked out the way that we wanted it to."
Junior guard Truman Brown led Layton's scoring with 18 points, including four clutch free throws down the stretch, and he also had six steals and five rebounds. His 3-pointer which glanced off the far rim, then off the top front of the backboard before falling fell through the net, gave Layton a 47-46 lead midway through the fourth quarter, and the Lancers never trailed again.
Another junior, center Skyler Turner, ignited the Lancers' comeback from a nine-point deficit and finished with 14 points, 10 of them coming in the second half. Lomax, a senior guard, added 13 points, and Hansen had eight points, six assists and three steals.
"That was a huge game for him," Hansen said of Turner, whose one-man, 7-0 run fueled Layton's 11-2 third-quarter surge that turned a 32-23 deficit into a 34-all deadlock. "... Recently he's been getting it going and he had some big rebounds and big layups, so he was huge for us tonight."
"He's a kid who, lately, has been struggling just a little bit," Miller said. "But we've had confidence in him and told him to still be aggressive around the basket. And he did what he had to tonight. ... I thought he did a great job around the basket for us in the second half, drew some fouls, finished some plays for us, which was big."
For Davis (15-5, 7-3 Region 2), Garff, a smooth-shooting sophomore, scored 18 points and also had five rebounds, five assists and two steals. Junior guard Josh Sanders added 13 points, and sophomore forward Brendon Redford contributed 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Layton, which dealt the cold-shooting Darts a 17-point defeat on Jan. 17, when Davis managed just nine second-half points, found the path to victory much, much more difficult to navigate this time around.
"All the credit to them," coach Miller said. "They made adjustments; their lineup's changed just a little bit from what it was three weeks ago, and they made some changes defensively to try and slow us down, I think. So good for them, they made those adjustments and they did what they needed to make it a close game.
"It doesn't matter what's at stake or what our records are. This time, a region championship's on the line but, besides that, it's Davis-Layton, and that's always a big game. I'm proud of our guys. We got down a couple of times, managed to maintain composure and hang in there and chip away and take care of business there at the end."
"It was a little different," Hansen said, comparing Friday's nail-biter to his team's previous blowout victory over the Darts, "but a win's still a win.
"We knew coming in that, if we can get this one, we'll have a shot of at least a share of the region championship. We knew that and just came to play with lots of energy. Our students are great; they came out and they were loud. It was a great student section tonight."
Redford had a couple of driving layups to help give Davis a 12-8 lead at the end of the first quarter. After Cade Whicker's corner 3 gave Davis a 15-8 lead, Brown ignited a 10-0 lead that lifted Layton ahead 18-15 midway through the second period.
Ben Rigby's rim-rattling dunk and subsequent three-point play then capped a 7-2 Davis spurt that put the Darts back on top 22-20, but Brown buried a 3-pointer just before the buzzer to give Layton the 23-22 edge at intermission.
Davis opened the third period with a 10-0 run to open up a nine-point lead at 32-23. But Turner brought the Lancers back with seven straight points, and Libby's bucket tied it at 34 before 3-pointers by Whicker and Braden Sims allowed the Darts to regain a 40-36 lead entering the final frame.
Garff's back-to-back buckets gave Davis a 46-41 lead early in the fourth quarter, but Hansen hit a 3 and Brown followed with his pinball-like 3 to help Layton regain a 47-46 lead.
Brown and Lomax each hit a pair of free throws to extend Layton's lead to 51-46, but a drive by Sanders, followed by a three-point play and a driving bucket by Garff, helped Davis pull within 54-53.
Turner hit a free throw and Lomax scored on a layup to make it 57-53 with just over 20 seconds to go, but Sanders' two free throws trimmed Layton's lead to 57-55 with 14 ticks left on the clock, setting the stage for the Lancers' critical in-bounds-play bucket by Hansen that put it out of reach.