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It felt like a country western night in the Dodge City Field House, with the student section donning their overalls, boots and cowboy hats.
The Demons did their best steer roping impersonation on the court, hogtying the Goddard offense to the tune of a 60-36 victory on Tuesday night.
Offensively, Dodge City was led by the combination of Trey Hallman and Adley Davis, who combined to score 24 points and dish out seven of the team's 13 assists on the night.
DCHS jumped out to an early lead thanks to the shiftiness of Hallman and the quick hands of Jonathan Taylor, who led the Demons with five steal on the night. They were up double digits early before a short Goddard run brought them back to within striking distance.
That is when head coach Dennis Hamilton and his crew put the defensive clamps on the Goddard offense, going on a 21-0 run to end the second quarter up 36-10, capped off by a brilliant half-court heave from Adley Davis that banked off the backboard and into the bucket, resulting in chest bumps from the Demon players and jubilation from the home court fans.
With a big lead early, Hamilton went to his bench to allow his role players to see some game action, which could prove to be crucial if the team needs to rely on depth once February rolls around.
"We've talked to our players a lot about that because we feel, like I've told them before, we can go 10 or 11 deep," Hamilton said. "So we said let's continue to apply the pressure, try to wear them down, and we got 29 points from our bench and that's stellar — that gives you a lot of chances to win basketball games."
In the second half, the Demons continued to apply that ballhawking pressure, forcing the Lions into 19 team turnovers for the contest and limiting them to 12 of 42 shooting from the floor.
As for the Demons, they seemed to find success inside, working the ball from Hallman or Bradshaw into post players such as Davis, Kelan Newton or Jordan Doan. As a team they shot just under 50% for the ball game and draining five of their 11 three-point attempts.
The result of the game Tuesday night was a stark contrast to the outcome of the Demons' opener against Wichita East last Friday.
"We really emphasized to our players to come out and put a lot of effort into the defensive end and I felt like we bought into that quite well tonight," Hamilton said. "We got off to a quick start and (Jonathan) Taylor help set the tone with his quick hands and getting some easy looks, and after that 21-0 run, I felt we set the tone early and by halftime we were clearly in the driver's seat."
The lone returning starter, Hallman, helped control the Demons on both ends of the floor, directing the flow of the game with his ballhandling skills and his defensive pressure, something that he knew would have to become an every night occurence if Dodge wants to be successful.
"Tonight, our strength was that we let our defense help our offense out a lot, so that helped us get into transition and get some points early," Hallman said. "Tonight we played a little more relaxed, we picked it up on defense and we just let the game come to us."
Hallman continued with what what he has had to do to take over as a leader on a team filled with new starters.
"You just have to work harder in practice, let the other kids get used to it and you always have to stay intense and make sure if they do mess up, you correct it right then and there," Hallman said.
The victory is Dodge's first of the season and puts them back on the right track as they continue their 2011 portion of the schedule with a Dec. 10 home game against Goddard Eisenhower, which will be the Demons' final home game before winter break. Tipoff for the boy's game is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at the gym.
It felt like a country western night in the Dodge City Field House, with the student section donning their overalls, boots and cowboy hats.
The Demons did their best steer roping impersonation on the court, hogtying the Goddard offense to the tune of a 60-36 victory on Tuesday night.
Offensively, Dodge City was led by the combination of Trey Hallman and Adley Davis, who combined to score 24 points and dish out seven of the team's 13 assists on the night.
DCHS jumped out to an early lead thanks to the shiftiness of Hallman and the quick hands of Jonathan Taylor, who led the Demons with five steal on the night. They were up double digits early before a short Goddard run brought them back to within striking distance.
That is when head coach Dennis Hamilton and his crew put the defensive clamps on the Goddard offense, going on a 21-0 run to end the second quarter up 36-10, capped off by a brilliant half-court heave from Adley Davis that banked off the backboard and into the bucket, resulting in chest bumps from the Demon players and jubilation from the home court fans.
With a big lead early, Hamilton went to his bench to allow his role players to see some game action, which could prove to be crucial if the team needs to rely on depth once February rolls around.
"We've talked to our players a lot about that because we feel, like I've told them before, we can go 10 or 11 deep," Hamilton said. "So we said let's continue to apply the pressure, try to wear them down, and we got 29 points from our bench and that's stellar — that gives you a lot of chances to win basketball games."
In the second half, the Demons continued to apply that ballhawking pressure, forcing the Lions into 19 team turnovers for the contest and limiting them to 12 of 42 shooting from the floor.
As for the Demons, they seemed to find success inside, working the ball from Hallman or Bradshaw into post players such as Davis, Kelan Newton or Jordan Doan. As a team they shot just under 50% for the ball game and draining five of their 11 three-point attempts.
The result of the game Tuesday night was a stark contrast to the outcome of the Demons' opener against Wichita East last Friday.
"We really emphasized to our players to come out and put a lot of effort into the defensive end and I felt like we bought into that quite well tonight," Hamilton said. "We got off to a quick start and (Jonathan) Taylor help set the tone with his quick hands and getting some easy looks, and after that 21-0 run, I felt we set the tone early and by halftime we were clearly in the driver's seat."
The lone returning starter, Hallman, helped control the Demons on both ends of the floor, directing the flow of the game with his ballhandling skills and his defensive pressure, something that he knew would have to become an every night occurence if Dodge wants to be successful.
"Tonight, our strength was that we let our defense help our offense out a lot, so that helped us get into transition and get some points early," Hallman said. "Tonight we played a little more relaxed, we picked it up on defense and we just let the game come to us."
Hallman continued with what what he has had to do to take over as a leader on a team filled with new starters.
"You just have to work harder in practice, let the other kids get used to it and you always have to stay intense and make sure if they do mess up, you correct it right then and there," Hallman said.
The victory is Dodge's first of the season and puts them back on the right track as they continue their 2011 portion of the schedule with a Dec. 10 home game against Goddard Eisenhower, which will be the Demons' final home game before winter break. Tipoff for the boy's game is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at the gym.
