Boys basketball: Davis withstands Weber’s hot shooting for home win
Turley's late points seal victory, which is No. 200 for Sims
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- Weber’s Luke Bingham (15) and Davis High’s Tradon Bessinger (24) compete for a rebound on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, in Kaysville.
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- Davis High’s Juni Moala (32) rises to shoot against Weber’s Will Stratford (12) on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, in Kaysville.
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- Weber’s Ben Olpin (3) drives against Davis High’s Coleman Atwater on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, in Kaysville.
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- Weber High’s Will Stratford corrals the basketball in a game against Davis on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, in Kaysville.
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- Davis High’s Bennett Wright, right, pushes a pass past Weber’s Ben Olpin on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, in Kaysville.
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- Weber High’s Derik Bowden attempts a shot in a game against Davis on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, in Kaysville.
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- Davis High’s Bryker Couser rises to shoot in a game against Weber on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, in Kaysville.
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- Weber’s Ryder Howe, center, passes over Davis defenders Bode Sparrow (2) and Tradon Bessinger (24) on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, in Kaysville.
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- Davis High’s Croyden Christensen surveys the floor in a game against Weber on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, in Kaysville.
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- Weber High’s Ben Olpin (3) and Davis High’s Coleman Atwater (1) go after the basketball on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, in Kaysville.
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- Weber High’s Derik Bowden handles the basketball in a game against Davis on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, in Kaysville.
KAYSVILLE — With seven points, Davis junior forward Tradon Bessinger didn’t lead his team in scoring in a high school boys basketball game against Weber on Friday night.
He wasn’t second behind JT Turley (17 points), or third after Coleman Atwater (15) or fourth from Bode Sparrow (12) or even fifth following Croydon Christensen (10) for a Darts team placing five players in double figures.
But Bessinger’s 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter broke a tie and ignited a 9-0 Davis run, giving some space to a tight back-and-forth Region 1 battle.
The Darts then held off a furious Warrior rally in the closing seconds and escaped with a 66-63 victory, wrapping up the first half of league action on a dandy note.
Sparrow’s driving layup at the 2:34 mark of the second stanza gave the Darts a 26-25 lead. That started a streak where the lead changed hands or the score was tied 18 times until Bessinger’s 3 with 7:13 remaining in the final frame made it 49-46.
“In the moment, we don’t really think about that stuff, just trust each other on defense and offense and we’ll come out with it and do our thing,” Bessinger said. “It felt good hitting one finally; I missed a couple before that (0 for 6). Bode penetrated and got me an open shot. Give credit to him; he did that to the defense.”
A steal and dunk by Sparrow gave Davis a 55-46 lead and it was still nine points at 58-49 with 3:25 left when Weber came back yet again.
“(A 9-0 run) affects the game pretty huge, but we knew the worse was yet to come. We just had to handle adversity right,” Bessinger said.
Weber senior guard Ben Olpin buried a trio of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and when senior center Luke Bingham made an old-fashioned three-point play with a bucket and free throw, it was 62-58 with 1:17 on the clock.
An inside basket by junior guard Thomas Packer with 37 ticks left narrowed the Weber gap to 62-60 but the Warriors had a problem: they had committed only one foul in the quarter and couldn’t get Davis to the free-throw line to stop the clock.
Then came a frustrating faux pas by the Warrior defense.
After a timeout, the Warriors packed the backcourt with all five players and Turley broke free from the pack to scor an uncontested layup for a 64-60 edge.
“We knew everyone was keying on Coleman so we used him as a decoy and had him set a screen; it stacked the defense on one side of halfcourt and I was wide open on the other end,” Turley said. “(Bryker) Couser gave me a great pass for a layup. I’ve shot that shot millions of times; it’s just another one.”
Still, Weber (11-7, 2-3 Region 1) wasn’t done. Olpin drained his third trey and the Warriors finally put Turley on the free-throw line with 7.7 seconds left, but he promptly made both charity tosses to seal the win.
Turley scored six of the Darts’ final eight points after the score reached 58-55 in another clutch performance by the junior guard.
“We count on Coleman, but they were sending two at him and I just took over at the very end and knocked down some free throws and made some layups,” Turley said.
Olpin scored a game-high 19 points for Weber, including 5 of 7 from beyond the arc, while Bingham and Packer (3 of 3 from three) added 13 each.
In a contrast of styles, Davis outscored Weber 42-24 in the paint but the Warriors shot 55% for the game, including 10 of 16 from 3-point range.
The Darts (15-3, 4-1) weren’t bad from the floor, connecting for 43% on the night, but were only 6 of 24 from downtown.
Chad Sims won his 200th game as head coach of the Darts (296 overall) and was humble in his accomplishment, saying “I owe the players over the last 20 or so years I’ve coached. They’re the ones that matter, that won the games, not me.”
