4A boys basketball state tournament: Snow Canyon, Dixie advance to semifinals

Written by E. George Goold
February 21, 2022
Crimson Cliffs junior Jordan Eaton scores against Sky View in a 4A boys basketball state tournament game, St. George, Utah, Feb. 21, 2022 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — Two Region 10 teams advanced to the state 4A semifinals by winning their quarterfinal matchups in the 4A boys basketball state tournament at Burns Arena on the campus of Dixie State University.

Snow Canyon never trailed in a 24-point victory over Hurricane, while Dixie rallied in the second half to beat Cedar.

The Flyers will join the Warriors in Tuesday night’s semifinals, with Snow Canyon facing Sky View and Dixie playing Ridgeline.

Sky View edged Crimson Cliffs in the first quarterfinal game Monday morning, while Ridgeline rolled over Green Canyon in the fourth and final quarterfinal contest of the day.

Following are recaps of Monday’s quarterfinal games:

Snow Canyon 58, Hurricane 34

No. 1 seed Snow Canyon led 10-9 after the first quarter and was ahead comfortably 28-19 at halftime, then clamped down on defense and held the Tigers to just 15 second-half points on the way to the convincing victory.

“I was just proud that we got the right kind of shots, for the most part,” Snow Canyon coach Doug Meacham told St. George News. “This group is about different guys stepping up. We try to go to the guy that’s hot.”

Snow Canyon beats Hurricane in a 4A boys state basketball tournament game, St. George, Utah, Feb. 21, 2022 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

Owen Mackay led Snow Canyon’s attack with 15 points including two 3-pointers. Lyman Simmons was next with 11 for the Warriors and Walker Morrison sank three 3-pointers and contributed 10 points to the win.

“Walker has been hurt a little bit, but he’s been in big games the past few years,” Meacham said. “It was big having him come into this atmosphere and make some shots, Bowen Hammer was making some shots for us early, and that’s the fun thing.”

It was defense that won the game for Snow Canyon, as Hurricane netted just six points in the third quarter.

“Defensively, I told them that it travels,” Meacham said. “I thought we did a better job. We just didn’t want to lose their shooters. The guys knew who we couldn’t help off of, and just being in position.”

“That’s been the thing for us all year, anticipate where your guy is going to be,” Meacham added. “We have some kids that like defense.”

Weston Larsen was the leading scorer for the Tigers with 11 points, including two 3-pointers.

Owen Iloa and Kruz Gardner each scored six points in the loss for Hurricane.

Snow Canyon advanced to face Sky View in Tuesday’s first boys semifinal, scheduled for 6 p.m. at Burns Arena.

Sky View 66, Crimson Cliffs 58

The Mustangs gave the Bobcats all they wanted, cutting the Sky View lead to 59-58 with less than two minutes to play.

Sky View beats Crimson Cliffs in a 4A boys state basketball tournament game, St. George, Utah, Feb. 21, 2022 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

But Carter Davis sank a dagger 3-pointer for the Bobcats and the Mustangs did not score again as Sky View salted the win away from the free throw line.

“We gave ourselves a chance, had a tough shot and then just didn’t get the rebound,” Crimson Cliffs coach Kasey Winters said. “And then they hit a 3 and got it to two possessions again. But I was proud we gave ourselves a chance. We battled back with a chance to take the lead, we just didn’t get it done.”

The fourth-seeded Bobcats got 19 points from Davis, who drained three 3-pointers. Logan Deal was strong for Sky View under the basket, scoring 14 points, and Tanner Davis chipped in with 12 points for the winners.

Crimson Cliffs was led by a game-high 25 points from junior Jordan Eaton. Jaden Jensen sank three 3-pointers for his nine points and Hudson Hawes also chipped in with nine for the Mustangs.

“Sky View is a good defensive team. They zoned us the whole game, which we expected,” Winters said. “Took us a little longer than maybe we wanted to figure it out. Once we did, we were getting some really good looks.”

Crimson Cliffs finished its season with a 14-9 overall record.

Dixie 41, Cedar 34

The No. 2 seeded Dixie Flyers overcame a sluggish first half to defeat the No. 7 seed Cedar Reds.

Dixie vs. Cedar, 4A boys state tournament quarterfinals, St. George, Utah, Feb. 21, 2022 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

The Reds jumped out to a 12-0 lead during the first three minutes of the game, but Dixie finished the first quarter on a 5-0 run to make it 12-5 after one period.

Cedar continued to extend its lead in the second quarter as the Flyers struggled to score. Midway through the period, Cedar took a 20-7 lead on a pair of free throws by Boston Garrett.

Then, with 2:40 left, Dixie’s Kyle Lemke drove the baseline and scored, making it 20-9.

After both teams missed their next few field goal attempts, the first half ended with Cedar ahead 21-9.

Dixie coach Tyler Roberts said he told his team at halftime, “Guys, that’s not our style of basketball. We need to get back into the ‘Fly Fam’ and buy into each other. We can’t do it by ourselves. Everybody’s got to come together as one.”

“We knew coming in that they (Cedar) was a good team,” added Dixie center Kean Webb, adding that Roberts told the players, “Stay humble and just go hard and we’re going to win this game.”

“I feel like my energy level was like a five in the first half, and my team needs me to be a seven or eight,” Webb added.

The Flyers responded to their coach’s halftime pep talk by starting the third quarter on a 8-0 run. Cedar didn’t make a point until center Aaron Munson drained a 3-pointer from the corner to push his team’s lead to 24-17 with 3:00 left in the third.

That ended up being Cedar’s only basket of the turnover-filled quarter, which ended with the Reds still clinging to a 24-20 lead.

It didn’t take long for that to evaporate, as Dixie’s Grant Carter buried a trey with 7:00 left in the fourth quarter to give the Flyers their first lead of the game, 25-24.

Dixie vs. Cedar, 4A boys state tournament quarterfinals, St. George, Utah, Feb. 21, 2022 | Photo by Jacqui Knighton, St. George News / Cedar City News

The two teams battled evenly for the next several minutes, the offensive pace picking up considerably. Dixie ended up making more points in the fourth quarter (21) than it had in the first three quarters combined.

With 1:26 remaining, Webb drove and scored inside, giving Dixie a 36-32 lead. He missed the ensuing and-one free throw attempt, but Cedar committed a turnover on the rebound.

The Reds then managed to steal the ball and guard Zab Santana made a basket to pull within two, but Dixie still led 36-34 with 59 seconds left.

Dixie then went on to outscore Cedar 5-0 over the final minute, with Webb putting the game out of reach with a breakaway dunk with about 30 seconds remaining.

Carter finished with 14 points to lead Dixie, while Jordan Roberts added 12 and Lemke scored 10.

Meanwhile, Santana led the Reds with 11 points, while guard Nathan Rogers hit three 3-pointers to finish with nine points.


Dixie advances to Tuesday night’s semifinal game at 7:40 p.m. at Dixie State’s Burns Arena. There, the Flyers will face third-seeded Ridgeline, which defeated Region 11 rival Green Canyon 75-44 in the last quarterfinal matchup Monday.

Meanwhile, Cedar, the defending state 4A champions, ends its season with an overall record of 13-10.

–written by Jeff Richards

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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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