Dover the top dog at M-O; Raiders claim 3rd

Something had to give.

It was Varnum. Both the Dover and Varnum boys entered Saturday’s championship game of the Mulhall-Orlando Invitational basketball tournament with unblemished records. The Whippets were 13-0 and ranked No. 5 in Class B-I.

The Longhorns countered with a 15-0 mark and are ranked No. 1 in Class B-II.

Dover is now 16-0. Thanks to its strong defense down the stretch and a guard duo that’s becoming increasingly difficult to stop, the Longhorns downed Varnum 55-37 in the championship game.

“That was definitely a good win against a good team,” coach Jared Reese said. “They’re always talented and well-coached and they came in with some good wins.”

Dover got into the finals off Friday’s 65-39 win against Lomega in the semifinals. It was the Longhorns’ second win over the Raiders this season.

Lomega made five 3-pointers and scored 17 points in the first quarter, but couldn’t keep up the scoring pace.

Dover led 35-24 at halftime and continued to pull away in the second.

It was Casen Buck and Daxx Compton leading the charge.

Buck had at least two field goals in every quarter and scored 26 points.

Compton nailed four 3-pointers as part of his 21.

Lomega was led by Lance Yost’s 15, but he was the lone Raider in double figures.

The finals followed a bit of the same pattern.

Varnum scored 16 in the first quarter, but only managed 21 the rest of the game.

Daison Hadley made three 3-pointers in that first quarter, but only had one the rest of the night.

Just like Friday, Dover still led after a quarter and methodically pulled away.

And, just like Friday, it was Buck and Compton doing much of the damage.

Buck scored 19, which included 18 in the first half.

Compton scored another 17.

“They’re both really athletic and know how to score,” Reese said. “But they’re also unselfish and the guys around them are getting better and better.”

A.J. Avila scored 9 points in the title game while Kyler Williams scored 6 and Brennan Fletcher had 4.

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Lomega also fell behind on Saturday in the thirdplace game against Union City.

The Raiders, however, managed a comeback that culminated with Jaxson Snowden’s game winner with 10 seconds left in a 47-45 victory.

The Tigers outscored Lomega 15-9 in the second quarter to stake a ninepoint lead at the half.

It was still seven entering the fourth before Lomega marched back into it.

Union City had the ball with the game tied with just over 1 minute to play when Lomega forced a turnover.

The Raiders were attempting to hold for a final shot when they coughed it up themselves. However, Union City blew the opportunity on the other end.

Noah Lentz grabbed the miss as Snowden got behind Union City’s defense.

He hauled in a long pass and laid it off the glass to put the Raiders up by two. Union City couldn’t match it on the other end.

Snowden scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half.

However, coach Justin Edsall was quick to heap praise on another Raider.

“I’m really proud of the way Cameron Ramer played for us,” Edsall said. “He just impacted the game for us on both ends of the floor.”

Ramer scored 12 points and scored in every quarter.

Lance Yost added 8 points.

He led the team with 15 in the semifinal loss to Dover.