The amoeba -- a microscopic single-celled organism that looks more like a wad of Jell-O -- is not a creature feared for its aggression.

But that's what the Eisenhower boys basketball team calls its defense -- an amoeba zone -- and it's anything but laid back, especially with Chris Dyer playing in it.

Eisenhower's Chris Dyer scored 18 points in the Cadets' victory over Davis on Monday at the SunDome.   ADAM SAWYER/Yakima Herald-Republic

The 6-foot-2 senior did a little of everything as Eisenhower handled rival Davis 77-51 on Monday in the SunDome. In the showcase game of the Tourneytown.com Shootout, Dyer put on a display himself, scoring 18 points, grabbing five boards and making five steals.

Oh, he also had three assists, including a nice pass that set up a dunk for teammate Jack Loofburrow, who exploded for a team-high 30 points.

"(Dyer's) a total team guy," Eisenhower coach Pat Fitterer said. "It doesn't matter if he scores or not; he goes to the boards hard, plays solid defense and he just does what needs to be done."

Dyer put up all his impressive numbers despite battling foul trouble for most of the game thanks to his in-your-face defense. He picked up his fourth foul late in the third quarter, but that didn't change his game. In fact, he still took a charge from Davis' leading scorer, Nico Sandoval, with 3 minutes, 43 seconds left in the contest.

Obviously, even with four fouls, Dyer wasn't going to let anything take him off his game plan.

"I tried to be aggressive because last game I threw away the ball like 100 times," said Dyer, who had only one turnover Monday. "This time I knew I had to get it done and everybody stepped up, especially Jack and Drew (Harris)."

While Loofburrow's eye-popping double-double -- he nabbed 11 rebounds -- grabbed most of the attention, Dyer had some impressive offensive numbers as well. He finished 3 of 5 from 3-point range to lead Eisenhower's perimeter shooting and 7 of 8 from the foul line. Harris rounded out the Cadets in double figures with 14.

The 18 points were an 11-point improvement on his first game against the Pirates -- a 57-48 loss on Dec. 16 in Davis Gym. Dyer was able to attack and shoot over the 2-3 zone that the Pirates ran so well in the first matchup.

"We practiced against (the 2-3 zone) in practice over and over again," Dyer said. "All the teams usually run zone against us since we're so big inside with Jack. So we worked on the 2-3 zone in practice to find a way around it and find what works."

Now Davis coach Eli Juarez is the one left trying to find a way for the Pirates to solve a zone defense; just in case they see the Cadets again in the postseason. Eisenhower started the year playing mostly man-to-man defense before going to the amoeba defense -- it resembles a 1-2-2 zone that Fitterer said he adapted from UNLV -- lately in most games.

The defense kept plenty of pressure on the Davis outside shooters, who finished 6 of 21 from beyond the arc, and did a good job of collapsing inside to prevent any players from driving.

"We had to get the ball inside to attack that zone and we didn't get that accomplished," Juarez said. "We made some adjustments, though, and we were more much more effective in the second half than we were in the first quarter."