Boys basketball: Snow Canyon breaks losing skid in Cancer Classic

File photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

CEDAR CITY – The Snow Canyon Warriors beat Eldorado (Nev.) Sundevils 69-54 in the first game of the Steve Hodson Cancer Classic Wednesday, snapping a five-game losing streak for coach Jamison Sorenson’s team.

Snow Canyon was looking to avoid its sixth loss in a row after starting the season with three straight wins. The Warriors struggled early, but came back to win thanks to rebounding and team play.

snow-canyon-logo“It was a game of two different halves,” Sorenson said. “We could attribute [the first half] to a lot of things. We could attribute it to coming off our first game off a break, or that it was an early morning game. Regardless, we just played poorly in the first half. At halftime, we made some adjustments. [We told them], ‘We’ve just got to pass the ball and take care of it.'”

The first quarter was not the ideal start for a team looking to end a losing streak. Eldorado jumped out to a big lead early, but only led 16-10 at the end of the quarter. Junior Kameron Webster kept the Warriors in the game with seven of the team’s 10 points.

File photo of Snow Canyon's Kameron Webster (5), Snow Canyon vs. Richfield, Boys Basketball, St. George, Utah, Dec. 7, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
File photo of Snow Canyon’s Kameron Webster (5), Snow Canyon vs. Richfield, Boys Basketball, St. George, Utah, Dec. 7, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

“We had a slow start the first half,” Webster said. “In the second half, we came out, regrouped ourselves and got after it.”

The momentum started to swing toward Snow Canyon in the second quarter as the Warriors tied the game by the end of the half at 26-26.

“[Coach told us] to just play within the offense and shots will come,” Webster said. “Share the ball with each other, get each other shots, and it will come back to you.”

Snow Canyon shared the ball extremely well, especially in transition and in breaking Eldorado’s press.

“This is actually our first game where we only had 10 turnovers, which is huge for us,” Sorenson said. “Normally, we’re averaging 18 to 20. They did a lot better job today just sharing the ball. I was pleased with that.

“We didn’t settle in the second half for 3s, which is what we do. We love to shoot 3s. Sometimes we’re pretty good, and sometimes — more often though — we’re pretty bad at it. They took better shots, they shared the ball and they took care of it.”

The Warriors had their way with offensive rebounds, which led to easy baskets for most of the second half.

“I have a lot of ‘ball-watchers,’ meaning when the shot goes up, and they’ll watch and they’ll get caught underneath to where they try to box out, but when they try to box out, they’re in poor position,” Sorenson said. “That’s something that we’ve really tried to emphasize.”

Braden Baker led Snow Canyon with 19 points. Webster was next with 14 points. Eldorado was led by Jordan Carter with 19 points, and Kemo Bell with 17 points.

The Warriors will continue the Steve Hodson Cancer Classic Thursday when they play Carbon at 12:30 p.m. at Canyon View High School.

“I was overall pleased,” Sorenson said. “We’re coming off of a five-game losing streak, so it was good to break it with this win. Our goal is to be just over .500 before region starts.”

Pine View 71, Spanish Fork 66 (F/OT)

pine-view-logoPine View knocked off Spanish Fork in its first game of the Cancer Classic 71-66 in overtime.

The Panthers jumped out to a big lead in the first quarter and led 22-10 after one, but Spanish Fork slowly chipped away before sending it to overtime.

Pine View outscored Spanish Fork 10-5 in the overtime to claim the victory. Trey Farrer nearly collected a double-double with 24 points and nine rebounds. Dylan Hendrickson added 15 more points.

Pine View will play against South Sevier on the second day of the Classic at 3:30 p.m. at Cedar High School.

Cedar 50, Carbon 33

cedar-logoCedar outscored Carbon in three of the four quarters to claim the 50-33 victory.

The Redmen led 15-7 at the end of the second quarter and never looked back. Cedar’s defense only allowed five players to score in the entire game and held Carbon to only 14 points in the second half.

Cedar’s Parker Haynie recorded a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Keenan Nielson scored 15 points to lead the team. Carbon was led by Kyle Quinton with 17 points.

Cedar will play Spanish Fork Thursday in the Cancer Classic at 6:30 p.m. at Cedar High School.

Riverton Holiday Tournament
Dixie 68, Wasatch 55

dixie-logoRichard Guymon scored a career high 23 points and the Flyers broke open a halftime tie with a dominant second half.

Guymon, Dixie’s senior center, owned the post despite the sizable Wasps inside players, beating his previous career high by six points – set in a loss last year at Cedar.

Dixie also got 12 points from Kaden Elzy and 10 from Sam Stewart and outscored Wasatch 40-27 in the second half.

The win puts Dixie, the defending 3A state champs, at 10-0 on the season with 5A Hunter on the docket Thursday. The two teams square off at 1:45 p.m. at Riverton High School.

Utah Autism Holiday Classic
Olympus 80, Desert Hills 55

desert-hills-logoThe host Eagles got 21 points from Jeremy Dowdell and ran away from the Thunder in the second half.

The Thunder, who got 23 points from guard Logan Hokanson, were within 10 early in the third quarter, but couldn’t stop the athletic Olympus team, which scored 43 points after halftime.

Olympus shot a scorching 56 percent from the floor (30 of 54) and made 10 of 11 free throws. Desert Hills was 19 of 50 from the floor.

The Thunder got nine points each from Ryan Marz and Jacob Mathews, but dropped to 6-3 with the loss. D-Hills plays West Jordan at 11:30 a.m. Thursday at Olympus High School in continued play at the tournament. Olympus is 7-1.

Tri-State Classic
Hurricane 69, Coral Academy, Nev. 52
Hurricane 48, Cibola, N.M. 38

hurricane-logoThe Tigers improved to 8-3 with a pair of wins at the Las Vegas tournament.

The Tri-State Classic pits four teams from each of three states: Utah, Nevada and New Mexico. Hurricane will continue play in the tourney through Friday.

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Twitter: @oldschoolag

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2016, all rights reserved.

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