By Jordan Burton
The scariest kind of player in March for any opposing team is a senior that isn’t ready for his season to end.
Pierce City saw that in Crane guard Dalton Hayes.
The 6-foot senior scored 12 of his game-high 22 points in the first quarter, leading Crane to a 62-41 Sectional win over Pierce City.
“He’s a senior and he’s been here three times in his career and he knows what it takes to win these games,” said Pierce City coach Matt Street. “There were a few times where I thought we did a good job defensively and he just hit a tough shot. That was senior leadership, he did a great job.”
Hayes couldn’t miss in the first quarter, starting the barrage with a 3, before slicing PC off the bounce for three more scores.
It was sickening… literally… with Hayes pausing only to vomit midway through the first quarter.
“Against Pierce City in the third game of the year Dalton hurt his hip and since then if he gets hit in the right spot he might get a little sick,” said Crane coach Craig Campbell. “He’s been fighting some illness over the last couple of weeks and I think the combination of the two caught up to him tonight.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
Not even throwing up could break Crane’s stride as the Pirates lit up the scoreboard for 23 first-quarter points, culminating with a deep, contested 3 by sophomore Bryston Branstetter just before the buzzer.
Crane’s defensive effort was as equally impressive.
Senior Deven White anchored Crane’s defensive effort against a team that has made a living attacking the basket.
Even when White went to the bench for much of the second quarter Crane was able to successfully defend the Eagles aggressive offense without fouling.
“If we can play defense the way we did tonight in the first half it could allow us to go aways,” said Campbell. “We were able to keep them out of the paint, force their big guys to take tough shots and contest all the perimeter jumpers and I think it took them out of their rhythm. They like to get to the basket and for us to keep them from doing that was huge. If we can keep doing that from here on out it’ll be big.”
Pierce City trailed by as many as 32 in the third quarter. It was the Eagles second-worst offensive output of the season, caused by a combination of inexperience and stage fright.
Getting over the loss won’t be easy – nor will replacing a senior class responsible for two of the program’s three district titles – but considering Pierce City returns eight of its 11-man rotation, the future is clearly bright for the Eagles.
“Crane did a great job of coming out and punching us in the mouth from the beginning,” said Pierce City coach Matt Street. “We just didn’t recover from it. We were not the same team that we’ve been and we didn’t attack the rim the same way as we had been. All the credit to Crane, they took us out of what we wanted to do and made us do what they wanted us to do. We didn’t react well enough to it.
“We need to remember this feeling of what it feels like to sit in the locker with this feeling and not let it happen again. We have to come out hungry and every time we start to fall off we need to remind ourselves of what this feeling is. We can’t recreate this atmosphere or this moment for what our kids need to take from this and move forward. We can’t replace our three seniors, but we can do our best to move on and let someone else step in.”
The win sets up a rematch with Greenwood, a 73-70 winner over Iberia behind 45 points from Julius Walker. Crane beat Greenwood earlier in the season and is just two years removed from the program’s most recent Final Four trip.
Both White and Hayes were contributors on that team and are the reason Crane is fixated on the number 196.
“Several of our guys are pretty good friends with Julius and they know him and what he’s capable of,” said Campbell. “He’s a big-time scorer. The first time we played them he went for 30. You hope you can contain him to 25 and not let anyone else score. We were able to do that the first time.
“Their hashtag is 196; that’s how many miles it is from Crane to Columbia and that’s what they keep shooting for. It was the last thing they said before they left the locker room and it’s been what they’re striving for. They know they are going to have to play well to advance.”
Crane and Greenwood will tip-off at 1pm on Saturday, March 4, at Drury’s O’Reilly Family Event Center for a trip to Columbia.
Crane 65, Pierce City 42
Pierce City 8-8-10-16 – 42
Crane 23-20-10-15 – 65
Pierce City (22-8): Cox 10, Tindall 8, Do. Kleiboeker 8, Sagehorn 5, Garner 4, Moreland 3, Da. Kleiboeker 2, Cruz 2.
Crane (19-10): Hayes 22, Vaught 11, Elder 10, Campbell 8, White 6, Brantley 4, Branstetter 3, Williams 1.
