Coyotes use treys to hold off Wildcats

POTTER - Potter-Dix went downtown to hold off Banner County on Friday night.

The Coyotes (6-13) hit seven three-pointers, including four in the third quarter, to take a hard-fought 54-48 win over the Wildcats (5-12).

Coby Hicks started the first quarter scoring for Potter-Dix, and Banner's Roby Fonseca answered with a trey from the top of the key. The Coyotes' Kelsey Rozelle came back with a three-pointer to give P-D a 5-3 lead at the 5:14 mark of the first frame, a lead the home team would sustain throughout the quarter. Three straight Rozelle buckets extended the lead to 11-4, and a Cameron Purcell layup extended the Coyotes' advantage to 13-4. Banner answered with a 5-0 spurt, getting layups from Tyson Dahlgrin and Mike McKown, in addition to a free throw from McKown, to pull within 13-9 to end the quarter.

Banner's strong run continued early in the second quarter as the visiting team came back for the lead. Dahlgrin stole the show early on in the quarter, scoring the Wildcats' first seven points as they came back for a 16-13 lead with 6:00 left until halftime. Going back to the final two minutes of the first quarter, Dahlgrin's jumper near the free throw line wrapped up an 11-0 Banner run.

The Coyotes came back with a strong spurt of their own to retake the lead. Cooper Hicks hit a jumper and Jake Johnson answered with a fast break layup as Potter-Dix took a 17-16 lead with 4:46 left until halftime. Banner's Cole Carey put the visiting team up once again, at 18-17, before a pair of foul shots from Coby Hicks put Potter-Dix back on top at 19-18 halfway through the quarter.

Purcell's trey extended the Coyotes' lead to 22-18, and a Johnson jumper made it a 24-20 game. Rozelle's three-pointer off a dive and dish from Rozelle gave the Coyotes a 27-20 lead, before Banner's McKown answered with a trey to make it a 27-23 game.

The Coyotes extended their lead with a strong attack from downtown early in the third quarter. Rozelle and Purcell opened the second half scoring with a three-pointer each as Potter-Dix took its largest lead yet at 33-23 just a minute into the third quarter. Dahlgrin answered with a layup, before Rozelle launched another trey to put the Coyotes up 36-25 at the 5:05 mark of the third period.

Banner withstood the aerial assault and slowly cut into the Potter-Dix lead through the remainder of the third quarter. The Wildcats used an 8-0 spurt to get back into the game. Dalton Jordan started the run with a layup, followed by treys from Dahlgrin and Fonseca to quickly cut their deficit to 36-33 with 2:45 left in the quarter. Edward Barnes hit the Coyotes' fourth trey of the quarter to stop the Wildcats' run, and the home team took a 41-37 advantage heading into the final quarter.

The Coyotes opened the final stanza strong as their 8-2 run to open the frame gave them a 49-41 lead. Coby Hicks had four points in the run, all from the foul line, while Purcell and Bogert added two points each.

Banner made a late charge in the final two minutes of the game. Jordan's putback layup made it a 49-41 game, and a later putback from Dahlgrin made the Wildcats' deficit 51-43. McKown's trey with 53 seconds in the game cut the Coyotes' lead to 53-46, and his layup with 30 seconds left on the clock put Banner within five at 53-48. That was as close as the Wildcats could make it as the home team held on for a 54-48 win.

Score by quarter

Banner 9 14 14 11 - 48

Potter-Dix 13 14 14 13 - 54

Banner points

Tyson Dahlgrin 20, Michael McKown 15, Roby Fonseca 6, Dalton Jordan 4, Cole Carey 2, Bryce Olsen 1.

Potter-Dix points

Kelsey Rozelle 18, Cameron Purcell 12, Coby Hicks 8, Jake Johnson 6, Edward Barnes 5, Sam Bogert 2, Cooper Hicks 2.