Region 10 boys basketball: Snow Canyon wins region title, Dixie finishes 2nd

Written by E. George Goold
February 15, 2022

ST. GEORGE — The Snow Canyon boys basketball team won the Region 10 championship on Tuesday night, with the Warriors getting a big home win over Crimson Cliffs in the regular season finale.

With its 71-52 victory over the Mustangs, Snow Canyon finished with 10-2 record in region play, 20-2 overall and will almost certainly be awarded the No. 1 seed in the upcoming state playoffs.

The Utah High School Activities Association is scheduled to reveal the final RPI rankings and 4A state tournament bracket Wednesday morning at 9 a.m.

In the other two Region 10 games Tuesday night, Dixie won at Pine View while Cedar picked up a road victory at Hurricane.

Following are recaps of Tuesday night’s games:

Snow Canyon 71, Crimson Cliffs 52

The Warriors sealed their region title in emphatic fashion at home, taking leads of 14-11 after the first quarter and 30-23 at halftime.

Snow Canyon hosts Crimson Cliffs in a Region 10 boys basketball game, St. George, Utah, Feb. 15, 2022 | Photo by Aaron Crane, St. George News

Snow Canyon’s Big Three kept rolling as Owen Mackay (23 points), Lyman Simmons (19 points) and Bowen Hammer (11 points) paced the Warriors to victory.

After taking a 44-37 lead at the end of the third frame, the Warriors kept pouring it on the Mustangs, adding 27 more points during the fourth period.

Simmons grabbed 11 rebounds and Mackay sank three 3-pointers for the Warriors.

Crimson Cliffs individual scoring was not available at press time.

Cedar 74, Hurricane 57

Cedar pulled ahead of the Tigers in the second half after the teams battled to a 33-33 deadlock in the first half.

“We had foul trouble early,” Cedar coach Mark Esplin told St. George News. “So we kind of had to bide our time and limped through that first half.”

“The second half, Aaron (Munson) came out and got it going,” Esplin added. “Zab (Santana) was on a roll and we played team basketball. We limited them to one shot (per possession) in the second half and that was the difference.”

Santana sank all three of his 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to secure the win, netting a game-high 22 points overall. Munson also sank three treys and tallied 21 for the victors.

Guard Stockton Albrecht contributed 12 points for the Reds.

Hurricane started off strong but couldn’t hit shots in the second half. Kruz Gardner had the hot hand for the Tigers, scoring 17 points in the contest.

Both Colton Lichfield and Nifai Iloa scored eight points for the Tigers and Weston Larsen netted six points on two 3-pointers.

Hurricane hosts Cedar in a Region 10 boys basketball game, Hurricane, Utah, Feb. 15, 2022 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

Cedar finished strong in the second half of the season and with the win improved to a 6-6 finish in region play, good for fourth place in the standings. The defending state champion Reds have an 11-10 overall record heading into the 4A playoffs, which are scheduled to start on Friday.

“We’ve got to fix a few things defensively,” Esplin said. “Offensively as long as we play team ball and move the ball we’re okay.”

“It doesn’t matter who you play, you’ve got to got through everybody or somebody’s got to help you along the way,” Esplin added.

Meanwhile, Hurricane slipped to 11-11 overall and finished 4-8 in region action, fifth in the standings.

Dixie 44, Pine View 38

At Pine View, the Dixie Flyers shook off a sluggish first half to defeat the Panthers.

After the first quarter ended in a 7-7 tie, both teams’ offensive woes continued throughout the second quarter, with Pine View taking a narrow 16-14 lead into halftime.

Dixie center Kean Webb then scored 10 of his game-high 17 points during the third period as the Flyers were able to pull slightly ahead of the Panthers and take a 26-25 lead at the end of the quarter.

Pine View hosts Dixie in a Region 10 boys basketball game, St. George, Utah, Feb. 15, 2022 | Photo by Jacqui Knighton, St. George News

Then, during the fourth quarter, Dixie’s Kyle Lemke scored seven points to help propel the Flyers to an 18-point quarter while holding the Panthers to 11 points down the stretch. Lemke finished the game with 13 points total.

“We struggled hitting some shots early,” Dixie coach Tyler Roberts told St. George News after the game. “We had to grind the second half, but Kean was huge for us in the third quarter.”

“Our defense was a lot better in the second half and we got some key stops,” Roberts added.

For Pine View, Bensen Shepherd and Griffen Shepherd led the Panthers in scoring with 12 and eight points, respectively, with the brothers accounting for more than half of the team’s total points.

Dixie winds up the Region 10 slate with a 9-3 record and a second-place finish in the season standings. Pine View, meanwhile, dropped to 3-9 in region play. Both teams, along with the rest of the 4A schools, will learn their playoff seeds and matchups when the tournament brackets are revealed Wednesday morning on the UHSAA website.

— written by Jeff Richards

Region 10 boys basketball standings (as of Feb. 16):
  1. Snow Canyon 10-2 (20-2).
  2. Dixie 9-3 (17-5).
  3. Crimson Cliffs 7-5 (13-8).
  4. Cedar 6-6 (11-10).
  5. Hurricane 4-8 (11-11).
  6. Pine View 3-9 (8-13).
  7. Desert Hills 3-9 (7-14).

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Eric George Goold came to St. George News from southwestern Colorado, where he was a radio news reporter. He has been a journalist for over 20 years in five different states. He graduated with a master's degree in English from Kansas State University and writes nonfiction as well. Goold has been published in Sunstone Magazine and has done multiple public readings about local history. When he has free time, he enjoys chess, movies and dogs.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @STGnews

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