Region 9 recap: Regular season in the books, boys basketball teams await state seedings

ST. GEORGE — Dixie has officially run the table, having finished the Region 9 boys basketball regular season undefeated at 12-0.

The Flyers, by way of a 78-60 home win over Cedar on Friday, improved to 21-3 overall and now will wait to see where they fall when the 4A state tournament bracket is revealed Saturday morning.

Finishing behind Dixie in the region standings was Snow Canyon, which defeated Desert Hills 62-46 on Friday to improve to 15-7 overall and 9-3 in region.

And Pine View handled Hurricane, winding up fifth in the standings. Crimson Cliffs had a bye. Final standings are listed below.

St. George News and The Fan Sports Network will have complete coverage of the release of the 4A boys state basketball brackets on Saturday.

Dixie 78, Cedar 60

The Flyers capped their clean sweep of Region 9 with an 18-point win in the Hangar.

Dixie’s Breckon Robinson drives toward the hoop against Cedar in a Region 9 boys basketball game, St. George, Utah, Feb. 16, 2024 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

The six seniors on the team were honored by the Dixie faithful before the contest.

Jordan Roberts, Kyle Lemke, Logan Weidauer, Breckon Robinson and Damon Meyers – Dixie’s starting five, all seniors – have played together since elementary school.

Landon Meyers is the sixth Dixie senior and he played several minutes in the win over Cedar as well.

“It means everything,” Dixie coach Tyler Roberts told St. George News after the win. “Just the experience and all the years together. These guys coming together and being best friends and having the opportunity to play together on their home floor on senior night.

“What an amazing experience,” he added. “The friendships and memories that they have will be there forever.”

Lemke started hot, scoring eight of Dixie’s first 10 points. It was up-and-down action early as the Flyers took a 19-12 lead after the first quarter.

Cedar struggled through the first few minutes of the second as Dixie’s defense locked down. The Flyers held a 39-24 advantage at halftime and cruised to the win.

“Being No. 4 in the country in team assists shows the love they have for each other,” coach Roberts said. “They always know where each other is at. They’re so unselfish and want to make the guys around them better. Going undefeated in Region 9 is extremely hard to do.”

Lemke finished with a game-high 22 for the winners. Robinson scored 16. Jordan Roberts put up a double-double with 14 points and 13 assists and leads the 4A classification in that category.

Weidauer posted a double-double of his own with 11 points and 11 rebounds for Dixie.

Cedar’s Landon Kreitzer led the Reds with 18 points, including three 3-pointers. JT Jeter contributed 11 points while Hayden Kee and Easton Albrecht both made two 3-pointers and scored 8 points in the setback.

Desert Hills’ Jackson Holman shoots against Snow Canyon in a Region 9 boys basketball game, St. George, Utah, Feb. 16, 2024 | Photo by Aaron Crane, St. George News

Snow Canyon 62, Desert Hills 48

The Warriors used a dominant third quarter to propel them to victory in the Thunderdome.

Leading 25-20 at the break, Snow Canyon put up a 22-13 win in the third quarter to give them some breathing room going into the final session.

Owen Mackay splashed four 3-pointers and scored a game-high 22 points to lead the Warriors to the win.

Damon Ence also sank four 3’s to contribute 12 points in the win. Owen Iloa was next for Snow Canyon with nine points.

Desert Hills senior Eli Allred led the Thunder with 16 points in his final Region 9 game at home. Mason Rasmussen canned three 3-pointers and contributed 14 points in the defeat.

St. George News videographer Aaron Crane captured the video below of  Owen Mackay’s alley-oop dunk off a pass from teammate Trey Kelsch.

Pine View 68, Hurricane 60

On senior night in the Pit, Griffen Shepherd scored 19 points to lead the Panthers to an eight-point win over Hurricane.

The teams battled closely the first few minutes, with Hurricane sinking a pair of free throws to go ahead 9-7 with just under two minutes left in the first quarter.

Pine View closed out the quarter with a 5-0 run to take a 12-9 lead.

Early in the second, Hurricane center Cayleb Jackman made a pair of free throws to tie the game at 12. One possession later, Hurricane guard Quinn Gubler drove the baseline for a layup that made it 14-14.

From that point on Pine View began to slowly pull away, eventually leading by as many as 11 before ultimately taking a 31-22 halftime lead.

Hurricane missed its first three shots of the third quarter before RJ Hurst banked in a 3-pointer to get the Tigers going again. By the midway point of the third, Pine View’s lead had dwindled to one point, 35-34.

The score stayed close the rest of the period, with the Panthers holding a 47-43 advantage after three.

Hurricane continued to battle in the fourth, pulling within two points on at least two occasions but the Panthers made a few key free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

Pine View converted 20-of-24 free throws during the game, while Hurricane made 11-of-14 from the line.

Both teams saw four players reach double figures in scoring.

Adding to Shepherd’s game-high 19 points were Pine View’s Nash Schroeder with 16, Adam Moore with 13 and Trevor Condie with 10.

Hurricane was led by Brigham Kemp’s 15 points, with Calan Hughes adding 13 and Hurst and Gubler finishing with 11 apiece.

– written by Jeff Richards

Final Region 9 boys basketball standings (overall, region):

  1. Dixie (21-3, 12-0)
  2. Snow Canyon (15-7, 9-3)
  3. Crimson Cliffs (12-10, 7-5)
  4. Desert Hills (13-10, 6-6)
  5. Pine View (14-9, 6-6)
  6. Cedar (4-19, 2-10)
  7. Hurricane (5-18, 0-12)

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