Dakota Walden led the way for the Daviess County boys’ basketball team Friday night, scoring a career-high 43 points in a 63-52 win over Apollo.
The Panthers (10-12, 2-4) locked up the No. 3 seed for the 9th District tournament, while the Eagles (3-23, 0-6) will take the No. 4 spot.
For Apollo, Ryan Ash led the way with 16 points, 11 of which came in the second quarter.
After trailing by only 1 point heading into the second period, Apollo looked as if they may find a way into the district win column for the first time all year. They stayed close throughout the half, though Daviess County led 29-28 at the break.
A number of untimely turnovers for the Eagles enabled the Panthers to open up a 12-point lead by the beginning of the fourth quarter, erasing the hard work Apollo had put in on both sides of the ball.
After trading buckets for much of the game, the third quarter proved to be the difference in an otherwise tightly contested matchup.
Daviess County head coach Neil Hayden was proud of the way his team fought off a resurgent Eagles’ offense.
“Anytime you can beat a rival three times in a season, you’re going to be happy,” Hayden said. “We were forced to stay disciplined on defense tonight against an improved team. At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter who you’re playing, a win is a win and we’ll take any wins we can get.”
Scoring
Apollo 13-15-9-15–52
Daviess Co. 14-15-20-14–64
Apollo: Ryan Ash 16, Cameron Frantz 9, Harrison Bowman 9, Malik Wilson 6, Jaden Kelly 6, Dan St. Claire 4, Landon Hamilton 2
Daviess Co.: Dakota Walden 43, Ryan Thomson 8, Chase Luckett 5, Gavan Ray 3, Mason Payne 2, Bo Stratton 2
