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Layton • Taunts rained down from the visiting Davis student section. "Jesse's better," clap-clap. Layton's Jarriesee Blackmon shrugged it off, never the type of player to get rattled.
"I heard them a couple times. I was like, "He might be a better player than me,'" Blackmon quipped. "Jesse [Wade] is a great player, so I found no offense."
Not tonight.
Pouring in a season-high 30 points, including 13 in the third quarter after Davis took an eight-point lead, Blackmon guided Layton to its ninth straight victory and first place in Region 1 with 58-52 upset over the third-ranked Darts.
"He has the tendency to do that," said Layton coach Kelby Miller when asked if it was a statement game for Blackmon, commonly an undervalued talent. "You pack the gym, he's going to show up."
On the opening possession, Layton initiated its fast break after pickpocketing Davis, setting up Blackmon for an assaulting tomahawk dunk to ignite the standing-room only arena into frenzy.
"Every time you get a Layton-Davis game, that's the type of crowds you should expect," said Blackmon, who also corralled nine rebounds. "Floorboards were shaking when people would get loud. That's what makes high school basketball so much fun."
It appeared as if Layton implemented the box-and-one scheme against Wade, who entered as the state's leading scorer at more than 27 points per game. Instead, Dallin Watts face-guarded the Gonzaga commit while teammates zealously helped defend penetration, camouflaging the man-to-man defense.
Watts, who finished with nine points courtesy of three triples, frustrated Wade into shooting 5 for 20 from the field. And although Wade finished with a team-high 19 points, he only managed two points in the second half until hitting a pair of free throws with 30 seconds left. Wade's deep 3-ball moments later trimmed the deficit to 54-52.
"We told Dallin he was going to start against him, and he stepped up to take that challenge," Miller said. "That's our mentality. They feel we're good enough to take a guy like that out of his rhythm."
After Wade and Blackmon exchange 3s to knot things at 21-21, Landon Swartz shimmy-and-stop jumper gave Davis a 29-23 advantage with 1:59 remaining in the first half.
The Darts extended the lead to eight, 39-31, in the third quarter before Layton answered with a 13-1 run highlighted by another violent Blackmon dunk for a 44-40 lead entering the final eight minutes.
Despite missing all eight attempts from the field, Julian Blackmon, the younger brother of Jarriesse, knocked down six consecutive freebies in the waning moments to preserve the win.
Left for dead following an 0-4 start, Layton (10-5) takes its undefeated region mark to Syracuse Tuesday. Davis, which had its 12-game winning streak snapped, will face Weber the same night.
Twitter: @trevorphibbs —
Layton 58, Davis 52
• Layton's Jarriesee Blackmon scores 13 of his 30 points in the third quarter. • Layton wins its ninth straight game and moves into first place in Region 1.