Dover holds off Raider rally for 53-36 win

The Dover coaching staff had accomplished a lot the last two years in resurrecting the boys basketball program.

They’ve eclipsed the 20win barrier.

They’ve won multiple tournaments.

They got back to state for the first time in more than 30 years and won a state tournament game for only the second time ever.

One thing they hadn’t done?

Defeated Lomega. The Longhorns have started each of the last two seasons with an 0-1 mark thanks to opening losses to the Raiders.

This year the teams didn’t meet up in their respective openers when they clashed Saturday in Dover.

And the result was different, too, as Dover improved to 3-0 with a 53-36 win at home.

Dover built an 18-point halftime lead, then withstood a second-half Raider rally to pull away.

Jaxson Snowden’s backto- back buckets in the third quarter pulled Lomega within 33-22 as part of Lomega’s comeback attempt.

The Dover advantage was down to 11 entering the fourth when Casen Buck’s 3-pointer led the Dover charge to take command back. A putback by A.J. Avila, a 3-pointer from Kyler Williams and a steal and layup by Buck saw Dover push its lead to 50-31 with 3:48 left in the game.

It appeared Dover would run away with the game early.

The Longhorns scored the game’s first seven points, but Lomega answered with a run of its own to tie the game 9-9 on a Snowden bucket.

After a timeout, the Longhorns closed the quarter with an 11-1 run.

They made four 3-pointers in the quarter - two by Williams - to build their 10-point lead.

But Dover’s shooting cooled off as the Longhorns made only one more trey over the next two frames.

As a result, they managed just 16 points over the middle 16 minutes.

But Lomega wasn’t able to take full advantage. The Raiders only had three free throws to their credit in the second quarter and had just 13 points at the break.

Lance Yost heated up in the third with a pair of treys to go with Snowden’s buckets as Lomega outscored Dover 12-5.

Those two combined for 11 in the fourth, but no other Raider scored in the final frame.

Yost made four 3-pointers overall and led Lomega with 17 points.

Snowden scored 16 and paced the team with seven rebounds.

Noah Lentz was the only other Raider to score as he had three points and also had four assists.

Daxx Compton helped Dover extend its lead in the fourth by making 3 of 4 free throws.

He was also a big part of Dover’s hot start as he poured in nine points in the first.

The sophomore led the Longhorns with 17.

Williams was 4 of 11 from long range and scored 14 points.

Buck scored 12 and had team highs with seven rebounds and five assists.

The trio of Buck, Compton and Williams also hit double figures in scoring Friday when Dover got its second win of the season.

The Longhorns downed Drummond 54-37 on the road.

This time Dover dominated the middle two quarters by outscoring its hosts 33-16.

Williams hit all four of his 3-pointers in those quarters for all 12 of his points.

Buck scored eight points in the middle quarters as part of his team-high 14 points.

Compton scored six in the first quarter and ended his night with 13.