DANVILLE — For three years, Danville’s current senior class had to watch East Knox celebrate.
The Bulldogs won three straight Devil-Dog football games – including twice on Danville’s field – outscoring the Blue Devils 83-34. They won six straight boys basketball games, including three in the 2020-2021 season alone (East Knox and Danville met in the sectional tournament that year).
The battle for bragging rights in eastern Knox County was won, over and over again, by the boys from Howard. For three straight years, Howard-Danville Road was painted purple and white.
No longer is that the case.
Danville’s seniors have turned the tide in their final go-around, trouncing East Knox in football this fall and doing more of the same on the basketball court this winter. The Blue Devils followed up a 27-point rivalry win Jan. 6 with a 20-point victory Friday, completing the season sweep of the Bulldogs on Senior Night.
Spencer Payne, a four-year Blue Devil football and basketball player, couldn’t help but smile as the final horn sounded.
“It means a lot,” Payne said after the 79-59 win. “I mean, we’ve worked hard. And we’ve had it coming for a while, because they beat us in multiple sports for a while. So it’s just good to finally see the hard work pay off in its own way.”
Danville honored its five seniors – Dustin Beckett, Spencer Payne, Max Payne, Owen Lyons and Levi Lyons – before Friday night’s game. Steve Lyons, the Blue Devils’ first-year head coach, called the evening “bittersweet,” given his ties to the group.
“With my son (Owen) being a senior, I’ve known these kids since they were playing fourth-grade, fifth-grade ball. So it’s kind of bittersweet to see it ending. …” Steve Lyons said. “There’s a lot of minutes, a lot of points, and a lot of memories walking out the door (when they graduate).”
1. Fredericktown (12-0)**
2. Centerburg (9-3)
3. Northmor (8-4)
4. Mount Gilead (7-5)
5. Danville (3-9)
6. Cardington (2-9)
7. East Knox (1-10)
**Clinched the conference title outright (each KMAC team plays 12 conference games)
Danville overcame a jitter-infused slow start Friday, closing the first quarter on a 16-3 run after making just one field goal in the game’s first five minutes. The Blue Devils led 20-10 after one quarter of play.
East Knox battled back in the second stanza, going 11-of-17 from the free-throw line after getting Danville into the bonus with six minutes left until halftime. The Bulldogs narrowed the deficit to 24-19 midway through the second quarter, as the game’s pace slowed and Danville’s momentum ground to a halt.
But Spencer Payne wouldn’t let the lead shrink any further.
The senior closed the half with a legendary three-minute stretch, where he either scored or assisted on all five of Danville’s baskets. He drilled two spot-up threes from the top of the key, converted a spinning lay-up in transition, and assisted on two key buckets – a corner triple from Beckett and a transition lay-in from Max Payne – to help the Blue Devils expand their lead once again.
Danville led 40-25 going into the halftime locker room.
“It was amazing,” said Spencer Payne, when asked about the energy in the gym during that second-quarter run. “The crowd – there were a lot of people here tonight. It was great. … It’s just an incredible feeling.”
The second half was smooth sailing for the Blue Devils.
East Knox went on a 8-3 run to begin the third quarter, narrowing the deficit to 10, but Danville stopped the bleeding there. Max Payne and junior Walker Weckesser banged back-to-back triples, and the Blue Devils went on a 13-2 run of their own to stretch the lead to 56-35.
Spencer Payne and Weckesser combined for 11 straight points to end the third quarter, and Danville headed to the fourth with a 67-41 advantage.
“We’re just not very good on defense. We’re just not. …” East Knox head coach Ryan Powell said afterwards. “They’re a more skilled, experienced offensive team than us, and our defense is just really struggling. We’re not overly skilled offensively, and when our defense is bad, we’re in trouble.”
Danville’s biggest lead of the night came early in the fourth quarter, when a triple from freshman Ashton Spaulding made it 70-41 Blue Devils.
East Knox cut into the deficit late, as freshman Carter Wesney and the Bulldogs’ young core got going offensively. But the play of the night came with 2:41 remaining.
Owen Lyons, the coach’s son and a four-year Blue Devil basketball player, had been trying to score his first varsity basket all night. A starter on Senior Night, he’d attempted several jumpers throughout the game, but none had fallen.
This time, however, would be different. As Lyons drove the lane, taking advantage of an overzealous close-out, he lofted the ball toward the backboard.
It bounced softly off the top of the square, just the way it’s supposed to. And it dropped cleanly through the net.
The capacity crowd, breathless in anticipation, belted out in joy as the lay-up fell. Lyons sprinted back on defense, an uncontrollable grin stretched across his face, and the route was on.
Chants of “Ow-en! Ow-en!” rang out as Danville put the game on ice.
“It means a lot to all these kids,” Steve Lyons said afterwards, when asked about the rivalry win. “Any time they play East Knox at any sport, whether it’s football, basketball, baseball – to beat these guys, it means a lot to them.”
Spencer Payne led Danville on Friday with 22 points, including 13 in the first half. Max Payne followed with 20 points, while Weckesser added 19. A total of nine Blue Devils scored in the 79-point effort.
Wesney led East Knox in scoring with a game-high 24 points, including 14 in the second half. Freshman Jaxon Lester added 11 points for the visitors, while sophomore Bryer Korosec contributed 9.
All five of Danville’s seniors scored Friday night. Steve Lyons said it served as the perfect showcase for the group’s talent.
“Spencer’s awfully quiet, but he’s always been our leader. You saw some vintage Spencer tonight with the turnaround jumpshots. The deep threes, right off the handoff. You know, he kind of runs our engine. Max Payne provides a lot of energy for us, getting downhill (and being) physical. Levi, I thought he controlled the boards real well tonight when he was in the game. That’s what he does for us,” Steve Lyons said.
“Dustin Beckett, (that was the) best game I’ve ever seen the kid play. And he didn’t play last year, and he was one of the first kids I went to find when I found out I had the job. I was like, ‘Are you gonna play?’ I went and found him at the IGA store in Mount Vernon and said, ‘Are you playing?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ So I’m glad to see him have some success tonight. It was big for him.
“And of course, for my son to finally get on the board – he’s probably played 10 minutes total before tonight. He’s been with us all the way through. I think he plays for me. His first love is band. But it’s been great to be able to be with him for the last three years. I coached the JV team and had him on my team for a couple years. So it’s been really great to be able to spend that time with him, even just the car rides back and forth.”
East Knox will practice for a week before hosting Wellington next Friday night. The Bulldogs will wrap up Knox-Morrow Athletic Conference play with a road game at Cardington next Saturday, then close out the regular season with a home matchup against Utica on Feb. 14.
Danville, meanwhile, will head to Loudonville on Tuesday for a non-conference matchup. The Blue Devils will travel to Ridgewood on Feb. 10 and Coshocton on Feb. 14 to round out the regular season.
With the tournament beginning in two weeks – and the district draw on Sunday – Steve Lyons believes his team is peaking at the right time.
“I was hoping we’d have a little bit more success at this point. I was hoping our record would be a little better. But we have 17 teams in our district, and we’re probably looking at being seeded sixth, seventh, somewhere around there. The top two teams are gonna be Northside Christian and Patriot Prep, which we struggled with – both teams,” Lyons said.
“So we’re hoping to get a chance to get back into the district games. We’ve got three games to get ready for it, and Walker Weckesser is just kind of rounding into form a little bit, making some shots now. So that’s a good sign for us.”
Spencer Payne concurred. He believes Danville has all the components to make a postseason run.
“I think we’ll go into the tournament strong,” Payne said. “We’ve had a week-and-a-half off, just practicing and working hard, and I think it showed tonight that, at least offensively, we can make a run in the tournament. We can win a couple games at least.”
