In the Northern Nevada Class 3-A League, the basketball gods giveth and they taketh away. Just ask Truckee (Calif.), Fernley, Winnemucca Lowry and Dayton.

Ah ... just ask any of them.

Less than 20 hours after suffering through a 10-minute scoreless streak and a shooting performance that at one point included three consecutive airballs, Truckee came back Saturday afternoon to defeat visiting Dayton in overtime, 59-54.

Dayton's Dust Devils had stayed above the fray in the league by entering weekend play at 6-0, but now find themselves in a virtual three-way tie with Yerington and Incline after also falling to the Highlanders Friday night.

Fernley, meanwhile, began the season at the opposite end of the spectrum. The Vaqueros lost their first six league games, including two in overtime, but kept themselves in contention for the league's sixth and final zone playoff spot by winning their second game in a row, downing Lowry 68-47 Saturday in Fernley.

The Lions, who opened league play with two losses, were off Saturday but are the league's hottest team, having won seven in a row, including Friday's win over Truckee.

Joe Crabtree scored 21, Bryce Baker 19 and Jordan Harry for Fernley's Vaqueros, who played at Lowry Tuesday night.

Fernley began its week with an overtime loss at Spring Creek on Monday. At the time the Vaqueros were the only winless team in the league. A win at Lowry Tuesday, however, would lift them into a tie with Lowry for the sixth and final zone playoff spot after the Vaqueros defeated Spring Creek in a rematch of Monday's game.

Fernley has had little trouble scoring in the first quarter lately and Saturday was no exception as it jumped on Lowry 22-13 and pushed its lead to 37-21 at halftime.

Lowry, which was led by Ian Quinn's 16 points and Jacob Ragsdale's 12, came back with a 16-7 quarter and at one point in the second half had the lead down to five points.

Trailing 25-15 at halftime to Dayton, Truckee coach Steve Ames pulled one out of the "Psychology 101" playbook.

"I told the kids at halftime that we probably only need two more wins to get in the playoffs and that once we get there anything can happen," said first-year coach Ames. "But, I said, 'You have to get better along the way and so I'm challenging you to start to get better in the rest of this game.'

"I don't know if telling them that had anything to do with it, but we came out in the second half and were a different team. They did great. We started taking care of the ball and doing some good things."

While the Truckee football program is a perennial state power, the basketball program has struggled to attain similar success and in recent years hasn't enjoyed the best reputation in regard to attitude and on-court conduct, even though some of the same players participate in both programs.

Attitude adjustment has been Ames' biggest goal of the season and it's beginning to show dividends.

"Their heads were hanging at halftime," said Ames, who is an assistant football coach as well and played at the University of Nevada under current coach Chris Ault.

"But today was probably the best comeback attitude-wise I've ever been involved with," said Ames. "The kids came out in the second half and made that decision that they had to win with all five guys playing together. The team came first and that's the first time that I really felt that this season."

As an example of the improved team play, Ames pointed to reserve Matt Hoehn's four points off the bench.

The Wolverines outscored Dayton 12-4 in the third quarter to close the halftime deficit to 30-27 and actually held a four-point lead late in the fourth before being whistled for an (unintentional) intentional foul.

Fouls and foul shooting were a major factor in the game as Dayton lost three players to fouls and Truckee two.

Ryan Roberts led Truckee with 16 points, Cody Wicks 12 and Pat Galvin eight. Tanner Wood scored 10 for Dayton and Ryan Ransdell eight.

On the girls side, Spring Creek got 27 points from Noelle Laffoon on six 3-pointers to hold off visiting Sparks, 65-55, and remain in first place.

Dayton defeated visiting Truckee (score unreported) and Lowry held off Fernley, 64-51.

After leading by as many as 25 in the fourth quarter, the Buckaroos saw the lead cut to eight, thanks in part to three consecutive 3-pointers by Teola Shaw.

Lowry coach Jack Smith said he didn't feel comfortable even with the 25-point lead but with a rematch at Fernley on Tuesday certainly didn't want to do anything to give the Vaqueroes any extra motivation, so he pulled off his press and began subbing.

"(Fernley coach) Ralph (Dunn) and I have done battle for a lot of years and I knew he and his kids weren't going to quit no matter the score, but my assistants were worried we were running it up," said Smith. "Luckily, once I got everyone back in we were able to get the lead back up, but I was getting more than a little worried."

Shaw's three 3-pointers were her only points in the game while Jayme King led Fernley with 15 points.

Lowry got 15 points from Jordan Vetter and 11 points each from Amaya Criswell and Morgan Thacker. Savannah Carlo scored 12 points and had 12 rebounds as Lowry moved one game in front of Truckee for fourth place.