Tall Pirate Ships Overshadow Bulldogs

DAYTON - The Dayton Bulldog boys found themselves lost in a forest of 6-foot 6-inch black-andorange trees Saturday night. Despite a furious third quarter rally, the Bulldogs could not overcome the altitudinal challenge, and succumbed to their longtime rivals from Pomeroy, 45-35.

The young Pirates featured only three upperclassmen, but each Pomeroy junior stood taller than any Bulldog. The two 6-and-a- half-footers, Riley Bott and Cody LaMunyan, posted 12 points and three blocked shots apiece. Their 6-foot 3-inch junior companion Max Ruchert chipped in another three points and provided some solid defense.

By contrast, only two Bulldog players even reach the 6-foot mark. One of those, senior Wyatt Frame, led the Bulldogs in both scoring and rebounding, tallying 17 hard-won points and seven boards.

The Pirates outmatched the Bulldogs in the first half in nearly all statistical areas. The Pirates forced 12 Dayton turnovers, blocked five shots, and hit from behind the arc four times at a 50 percent shooting clip. At the end of the first quarter Dayton trailed 14-7. By the end of two, Pomeroy owned an 11 point lead at 27-16.

Dayton came out after halftime determined to halt Pomeroy's three-point barrage (which it successfully did) while methodically operating on offense. Back- to-back buckets by Cruz Ramirez and Frame drew the Dogs to within seven at 27-20. Johnny Sanchez failed to narrow the gap to five a few seconds later, when he misfired on two free throw attempts. Pomeroy responded with Bryan McGreevy and LaMunyan buckets in the paint to push the lead back to 11.

The Dogs trimmed the lead back to six at 33-27 thanks to a 7-2 run fueled by two Frame buckets and a Grant Heinrich 3-pointer, but Dayton never drew closer. The shootout of a third quarter ended with a 6-0 Pomeroy run and a 12 point advantage for the Pirates.

The pace slowed significantly in the fourth quarter as Dayton turned to fouling to remain in the game. Pomeroy scored only four points in the quarter, all coming on free throws. The Pirates hit on 4-of-8 shots from the charity stripe. Dayton, however, could not take advantage of the Pirate scoring lull. The Bulldogs managed just six points of their own coming on three field goals.

"They're a good basketball team and they're going to get even better," Dayton coach Roy Ramirez said. "We faced them last year when they were all freshmen and sophomores. They gave us a close game up there (at Pomeroy)."

Ramirez said he told his team to sit back and force the Pirates to prove they could make three-pointers. If they were able to hit the net, the Bulldogs would step out and defend the three point line.

"I knew they could hit them, but we wanted to see if they were going to have an on-night or an off-night, after a tough game they played last night," Ramirez said.

Ramirez's team not only faced a superior team in size, but did so without a full complement of players thanks to the flu.

"I was impressed with all of my guys," Ramirez said. "We had one (Ian Smay) who was sick and didn't come tonight. And Johnny (Sanchez) is getting sick. He felt like he was going to throw up, but he got out there, manned up and played hard."

Ramirez said the Bulldogs played hard and he liked the effort the team put out but that the Bulldogs' slow first half hurt their gameplay overall.

"The second half was a lot better," Ramirez said. "And that's what allowed us to get back into the game."