After trailing for much of the game, No. 12 Davis got one last chance, which was all it could have asked for in the waning seconds of its second-round contest Friday night at No. 5 Riverton.
Sophomore guard Coleman Atwater seized that opportunity, giving the Darts the 46-44 win on a jump shot near the top of the key with just over 10 seconds to play.
“That’s his shot,” Davis head coach Chad Sims said moments after the upset victory. “If he can get to that spot, he usually makes it. So I was fine with it and he’s clutch. He wants the big time and so he’s hit those shots all year for us.”
Atwater finished the night with a team high 14 points; eight came in the fourth quarter.
Before the fourth, Davis struggled to hit shots, going into the final period with just 26 points and facing a seven-point deficit. But everything changed in the final quarter, starting with the Darts’ defense.
“I think we just locked in the defense and made a couple plays,” Sims said. “Then Coleman hit a couple shots. It was great — total team win.”
The Darts, who before the fourth quarter had scored most of their points outside the paint, began attacking and earning free throws. Davis finished the quarter 7-8 from the line, something that caught even their coach off guard.
“That hasn’t been on our side … all year,” Sims said of his team’s free throws. “So it’s kind of nice to hit a couple of them down the stretch. (I’m) really proud of the guys, the way they played.”
Free throws by senior forward Kaden Eggett gave Davis its first lead of the second half with 3:57 to play. But Riverton soon regained control, taking a six-point lead moments later.
But the Darts wouldn’t go away, scoring eight points in the final 1:36 to earn the victory. All the while, they held the Silverwolves scoreless.
“We’ve been on the wrong side of a couple of these games,” Sims said. “We’ve lost like five or six games by two points. And so for us to be on the right side of this … it was great.”
The win gives Davis its second victory of the tournament; they beat No. 21 Weber earlier this week.
Riverton had a bye into the second round, so the Silverwolves last game came a week prior. It was a regular season win over Mountain Ridge that gave the school an outright Region 3 championship.
Friday’s loss is Riverton’s third defeat in its final four contests, and it dropped the school to a 17-7 overall record to end the year. Another state quarterfinal has escaped the Silverwolves, who have not made it farther than the second round of the state tournament since 2019.
Davis’ win earns the school a quarterfinal bid, sending the Darts back to that round after a one-year hiatus. Their quarterfinal contest will be played at Weber State Tuesday. Tipoff is scheduled for 9:30 a.m.