RICHFIELD – Region 9 teams performed well on the first full night of boys high school basketball action. At the 3A Preview here in Richfield, Dixie, Pine View and Desert Hills won big, while Hurricane squeaked out a close one and Cedar fought hard, but went down. Up at the Bear River Winter Classic, Snow Canyon got its third win to start the season.
For many fans, it was the first look at their teams this season. We’ve got a full report below:
Dixie 56, Union 40
You can’t start a game much better than the Flyers did, rushing out to a 9-0 lead and a 22-3 edge after just one quarter. Dixie pushed it to 33-13 at the half and never looked back.
Richard Guymon had six blocked shots to go with 12 points and eight rebounds and Kadyn Elzy had 12 points and three assists as the preseason Region 9 favorite never gave the Cougars a chance.
Dixie shot a blistering 54 percent from the floor, making 26 of 48 shots. Amazingly, 21 of the 26 makes came off of assists with Kannen Dye collecting five and Guymon and Ty Curtis dishing out four. Union, meanwhile, made just 13 of 44 shots for a 29.5 percent average. The Cougars had just six assists in the game and only one Union player, Kalob Bolton, made it to double figures in scoring (he had 11 points).
The Flyers led by as many as 26 points before head coach Ryan Cuff substituted liberally in the fourth quarter. Ten different Dixie players scored in the game and eight had at least one assist. Curtis’ line read eight points, five rebounds, four assists, and three steals with no turnovers or personal fouls.
Dixie, 2-0, will play its second game of the 3A Preview Saturday at 9 a.m. at the Sevier Valley Center and then will head home and prepare for Tuesday’s road trip to Canyon View and next weekend’s Ken Robinson Classic.
Pine View 66, Manti 35
The Panthers fired up the engines late in the second quarter after letting the Templars back in the game for a few minutes.
Pine View had a 21-9 lead, but gave up a 10-0 run midway through the second quarter. Manti even had a 3-point attempt to take the lead. But when the shot caromed off the rim, the Panthers got out and ran the Templars off the court. PV closed the half on an 11-1 run, then opened the second half by outscoring Manti 15-2 over a five-minute span to open up a 47-22 lead.
“I was actually worried about that, because I thought defense might be a weakness of ours,” PV head coach Ryan Eves said. “We can score, obviously, but today they came to play. It was good team defense and we had a couple of long stretches where we got a lot of good stops.”
Center Trey Farrer and forward Dylan Hendrickson stood out. Farrer, a 6-foot-7 senior, had 16 points and six blocked shots and his presence in the middle of PV’s 2-3 zone changed almost every Manti shot in the lane.
“We wanted our first game to be a statement game and show that we’re the real deal,” Farrer said. “Even if I don’t block a shot, if I can alter shots, it opens up rebounds and helps get guys out on the fast break.”
Hendrickson had 12 points and nine rebounds and threw down two monster dunks in the first half. On one play late in the first quarter, his defender bodied up on him at the top of the key. Hendrickson pivoted around the defender and took two big steps in the lane and threw down a one-handed tomahawk.
“There’ nothing like it when you’re up in the air like that,” Hendrickson said. “I pride myself in being able to do a little bit of everything. My coach trusts me a lot and my teammates trust me a lot. Where ever the coach needs me is where I’ll go.”
Pine View’s defense was stifling, allowing the Templars to hit just 9 of 46 shots (19.6 percent) and forcing Manti into 19 turnovers.
Pine View, 1-0, will face Union at 10:30 a.m. in the Sevier Valley Center Saturday.
Desert Hills 58, Morgan 42
The Thunder, playing their second straight game without star Logan Hokanson, struggled with the Trojans for three quarters before finally blowing the game open in the fourth.
Jake Mathews had 13 points and Ryan Marz had 11 points and nine rebounds as D-Hills outscored Morgan 23-5 in the fourth quarter.
Morgan actually led 37-35 heading into the final period, but the Thunder got hot behind the shooting of Trey Allred and Braxton Porter to open up a small lead. The Trojans then started fouling to try and gain an advantage and Desert Hills made them pay, hitting 10 fourth-quarter free throws.
It was quite a contrast of halves for Desert Hills, which shot a miserable 5 for 20 in the first two quarters and then made 11 of 16 shots from the floor after intermission. DH also made 4 of 8 3-pointers after halftime.
Meanwhile, Morgan was only 4 of 15 before halftime and 7 of 30 after the break for a total of 11 for 45, 24.4 percent. The Thunder did an excellent job on Morgan star Cade Russell, who had 16 points, but did it on 3 of 16 shooting. His saving grace was a 9 for 10 performance from the line.
Desert Hills, 2-0, plays Grantsville at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in the 3A Preview at the Sevier Valley Center.
Hurricane 54, South Sevier 52
The Tigers actually led most of the game, but a Rams run at the end of the third gave them a 39-35 lead and the game was close the rest of the way.
Jackson Last hit a 3-pointer from the left wing with under two minutes to play that put Hurricane up 48-44. South Sevier pulled to within two on a basket by Tyson Chisholm with 1:21 to go.
The Rams fouled Josh Parker, whose two free throws made it 50-46, but SSHS responded with a three-point play by Brodee Tebbs off an offensive rebound with 37 seconds to play. After one Parker free throw, South Sevier had a chance to take the lead, but Caleb Barton’s forced trey was off the mark. Adam Heyrend rebounded the miss and then was fouled, hitting both free throws.
A Tebbs 3-pointer made the ending exciting, but Hurricane survived after a desperation shot at the buzzer by the Rams.
“Too close, too nerve-wracking,” HHS coach Todd Langston said. “They were a tough matchup for us. They were small and quick and scrappy and they had good shooters. But we took better care of the basketball tonight and we shot much better, too.”
Parker and Last each tossed in 17 points to lead the way, with Last making all three of his 3-point attempts. He also snagged seven rebounds. Parker had nine boards and made 4 of 6 from the line.
Graden Cahoon added nine points for Hurricane, which improved to 2-0. The Tigers, who were 7 of 12 from deep and 19 for 39 total from the floor, will play hometown favorite Richfield Saturday at 6 p.m. in the Sevier Valley Center.
Grantsville 54, Cedar 47
The Redmen opened the Russ Beck era at CHS with a close loss to the Cowboys.
Dallin Peterson’s 3-pointer had Cedar within 16-14 three minutes into the second quarter, but the Redmen would not score again before halftime, surrendering six unanswered to Grantsville for a 22-14 halftime deficit.
The Cowboys scored the first four points of the third to take a commanding 26-14 lead and the Redmen had to fight from behind the rest of the game. The lead ballooned to as much as 16 in the third, but Keenan Nielson hit a 3 to spark a mini run for CHS and cut it to 36-27 after three quarters.
A Nielson bucket with under a minute left pulled Cedar to as close as it had been since the second quarter at 53-47, but the Redmen could get no closer.
“We kind of went back to some old, bad habits,” Beck said. “We’ve worked so hard to learn the new system and we’ve got to stick to those things that we do every day in practice and we’ll be OK.”
Nielson had 26 points and five rebounds, but no other Cedar player cracked double figures and the team shot just 36 percent (15 of 42) in the game. Jesse Clark had eight points and Parker Haynie had seven.
“We didn’t quit,” Beck said. “We gave ourselves a chance with three or four minutes left. We just had a poor second quarter that put us in a bit of trouble. Keenan and Parker both got in foul trouble and had to come out of the game.”
Trevor Colson led Grantsville with 22 points. The Cowboys only had four turnovers in the game.
Cedar, 0-1, plays Tooele at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Sevier Valley Center and then goes to Juab Tuesday night.
Bear River Winter Classic
Snow Canyon 67, South Summit 47
Braden Baker was a preseason second team all-region selection, mostly because no one had seen the sophomore play a varsity game. The Warrior guard might get a few more votes now as he poured in 29 points to lead the Warriors to their third straight win to start the season.
Baker is averaging 22 points a game and he and Kameron Webster sparked Snow Canyon to a 28-point second quarter against the Wildcats. SC outscored SS 28-12 in the second and held a 41-26 halftime edge.
Bryson Childs, another underclassman, had seven points and nine rebounds and the Snow Canyon defense went into overdrive in the third quarter, allowing just three points to South Summit. After three, it was 57-29 and the Warriors coasted from there.
Baker made five 3-pointers in the outburst and Webster had three more as SC went to 3-0 on the year. The Warriors finish their Bear River Classic experience Saturday with a 3 p.m. contest against the hometown Bears.
Five Region 9 teams battled foes in the 3A Preview at the Sevier Valley Center, Richfield, Utah, Dec. 2, 2016 | Photo by Andy Griffin, St. George News
Five Region 9 teams battled foes in the 3A Preview at the Sevier Valley Center, Richfield, Utah, Dec. 2, 2016 | Photo by Andy Griffin, St. George News
Five Region 9 teams battled foes in the 3A Preview at the Sevier Valley Center, Richfield, Utah, Dec. 2, 2016 | Photo by Andy Griffin, St. George News
Five Region 9 teams battled foes in the 3A Preview at the Sevier Valley Center, Richfield, Utah, Dec. 2, 2016 | Photo by Andy Griffin, St. George News
Five Region 9 teams battled foes in the 3A Preview at the Sevier Valley Center, Richfield, Utah, Dec. 2, 2016 | Photo by Andy Griffin, St. George News
Five Region 9 teams battled foes in the 3A Preview at the Sevier Valley Center, Richfield, Utah, Dec. 2, 2016 | Photo by Andy Griffin, St. George News
Five Region 9 teams battled foes in the 3A Preview at the Sevier Valley Center, Richfield, Utah, Dec. 2, 2016 | Photo by Andy Griffin, St. George News
Five Region 9 teams battled foes in the 3A Preview at the Sevier Valley Center, Richfield, Utah, Dec. 2, 2016 | Photo by Andy Griffin, St. George News
Five Region 9 teams battled foes in the 3A Preview at the Sevier Valley Center, Richfield, Utah, Dec. 2, 2016 | Photo by Andy Griffin, St. George News
Five Region 9 teams battled foes in the 3A Preview at the Sevier Valley Center, Richfield, Utah, Dec. 2, 2016 | Photo by Andy Griffin, St. George News
Five Region 9 teams battled foes in the 3A Preview at the Sevier Valley Center, Richfield, Utah, Dec. 2, 2016 | Photo by Andy Griffin, St. George News
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