CEDAR CITY – Sam Stewart is kind of the unsung hero on Dixie High’s boys basketball team, but Tuesday night the senior forward did a little singing, figuratively speaking.
Stewart scored 17 points and helped Dixie overcome a slow start on the road to beat Canyon View 69-53 at the Falcon’s Nest.
“The past couple of games, I underperformed, in my opinion,” Stewart said. “I just wanted to come out more confident tonight than in previous games and that helped me a lot.”
The Falcons started quick, with Cash Christensen scoring inside and then Brantzen Blackner grabbing a steal and going in for a score. Forty seconds into the game, the fired up crowd was going crazy and Canyon View had a 4-0 lead.
“Coach was definitely not happy with us at that point,” said Dixie guard Ty Curtis. “But he let us work through it and we just came together as a team.”
Dixie scored the next 11 points, starting with a bucket inside by center Richard Guymon and ending with an and-one score by Kaden Elzy. Stewart had two baskets in the 11-0 run, which gave the Flyers a lead they would never relinquish.
“Our defense was tenacious and we have guys that have bought into that,” coach Ryan Cuff said. “We have some very intense practices. But we had a few lapses and made a lot of mistakes. For them to get 50 points, well I know these guys aren’t happy.”
Dixie continued to dominate after that initial run. Back-to-back treys to end the quarter by Korbyn Elzy and Marcus Flinders pushed the Dixie advantage to 23-13 after eight minutes and the lead expanded to 43-24 at halftime behind hot shooting from Curtis and Kaden Elzy.
Dixie led by as many as 24 in the second half and the closest Canyon View would get would be the final score.
“We played a lot of guys tonight , but we’re eventually going to get to an eight or nine man rotation,” Cuff said. “To play 11 guys is nice, though, especially with the way they buy into defense. They get tired easily and they’re going to need breaks.”
The defending state champion Flyers shot a blistering 57 percent from the floor, making 29 of 51 shots. Dixie also won the battle of the boards with a 31-29 rebounding advantage.
Stewart’s 17 points and five rebounds led the way, with Curtis scoring 14 and Guymon chipping in 12 points, six boards and three assists. Kaden Elzy had nine points and four assists as Dixie assisted on 16 of its 29 baskets.
Canyon View was led by Blackner with 18 points, three assists and three steals. Joey Lambeth added 10 points.
Dixie, 4-0, now prepares to host the Ken Robinson Classic this weekend, with a Friday game against Spanish Fork (7:30 p.m.) and a Saturday game against Richfield (5 p.m.) at DHHS.
Canyon View, 2-5, is at Snow Canyon Thursday night. So far, the Falcons are 0-3 against former (and future) Region 9 mates, with upcoming games against SC, Cedar and Pine View.
Stats: Dixie 69, Canyon View 53
Juab 49, Cedar 46
The Redmen had a big lead early in the game, but couldn’t hold it on the road in Nephi against the Wasps.
Keenan Nielson, who has scored at least 20 points in all three games for Cedar this season, poured in 25 at Juab and the Redmen went up 19-9 in the first quarter.
But as good as Cedar was in the first, the second was another story. The Redmen managed just four points in the second period and saw the lead virtually disappear. CHS held a 23-22 lead at intermission.
In the third, Juab shooters Cody Fitzgerald and Ryker Osborne began to take over and the Wasps ran out to a 35-30 lead. A late surge by Cedar wasn’t enough to overcome the deficit.
Parker Haynie had eight points and Mason Fakahua played in his first game of the season and scored six for Cedar, which fell to 1-2 on the year. Osborne led Juab with 11 points and Fitzgerald had 10 as the Wasps improved to 2-2 on the year.
Cedar will visit Salem Hills Friday night with a 7 p.m. tipoff.
Dixie's Richard Guymon (11) and Canyon View's Abe Huxford (4), Canyon View vs. Dixie, Boys Basketball, Cedar City, Utah, Dec. 6, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Dixie's Kaden Elzy (4), Canyon View vs. Dixie, Boys Basketball, Cedar City, Utah, Dec. 6, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Dixie's Richard Guymon (11), Canyon View vs. Dixie, Boys Basketball, Cedar City, Utah, Dec. 6, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Dixie's Tyler Curtis (0), Canyon View vs. Dixie, Boys Basketball, Cedar City, Utah, Dec. 6, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Dixie's Sam Stewart (24), Canyon View vs. Dixie, Boys Basketball, Cedar City, Utah, Dec. 6, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Dixie's Kaden Elzy (4), Canyon View vs. Dixie, Boys Basketball, Cedar City, Utah, Dec. 6, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Canyon View vs. Dixie, Boys Basketball, Cedar City, Utah, Dec. 6, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Dixie's Tyler Curtis (0), Canyon View vs. Dixie, Boys Basketball, Cedar City, Utah, Dec. 6, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Dixie's Tyler Curtis (0) and Canyon View's Joey Lambeth (32), Canyon View vs. Dixie, Boys Basketball, Cedar City, Utah, Dec. 6, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Dixie's Richard Guymon (11), Canyon View vs. Dixie, Boys Basketball, Cedar City, Utah, Dec. 6, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Dixie's Korbyn Elzy (1), Canyon View vs. Dixie, Boys Basketball, Cedar City, Utah, Dec. 6, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Canyon View's Brantzen Blackner (30), Canyon View vs. Dixie, Boys Basketball, Cedar City, Utah, Dec. 6, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
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