It’s a big week for tournaments throughout Utah (and Nevada), with five Region 9 boys basketball teams participating in holiday brackets around the West.
Some of the storylines include the suddenly red-hot Hurricane Tigers, who won two games in Las Vegas, the renewal of the Steve Hodson Cancer Classic, hosted by Cedar and Canyon View, and a bounce-back win for the Dixie Flyers. Here’s a recap:
Steve Hodson Cancer Classic at Cedar
Panguitch 50, Cedar 48 (F/OT)
Cedar 52, Ogden 42
The Redmen lost a heartbreaker in the early contest as the Bobcats stunned the home team behind 20 points from Acie Orton and 18 from Jace Eyre.
But Cedar bounced back in the late game, handling visiting Ogden behind 15 points from Dallin Grant and 13 from Ethan Boettcher.
“Happy to get the win,” said Cedar head coach Russ Beck. “For our young kids to experience a win on our home floor is important. We are the youngest team in the region with the biggest upside. We are learning what it takes and want to get better each game. We focused on us and we got the win.”
Grant, a 6-foot-6 freshman, had 12 points in the first game and Alec Jacoby added nine points and 10 rebounds as the Redmen and Bobcats played close the whole afternoon. Cedar shot just 39 percent (18 for 48) against Panguitch and was outscored 4-2 in the four-minute overtime.
Against Ogden, the Redmen busted the game open in the second quarter, outscoring the Tigers 17-6 in the stanza. Cedar led 33-22 at the half and kept the double-digit advantage much of the second half.
The Redmen made only 38 percent of their shots in the victory, but hit seven 3-pointers and had three fewer turnovers than the Tigers.
The victory improves Cedar to 4-5 overall this season. The Redmen play one game on Friday, a 6:30 p.m. tipoff against American Leadership Academy at CHS. Panguitch, a 1A school, improves to 7-2 on the year while 4A Ogden falls to 1-7.
Steve Hodson Cancer Classic at Canyon View
Canyon View 69, Carbon 40
Who knows if Falcons star Brantzen Blackner has been noticing the eye-popping numbers being put up by Hurricane’s Jackson Last, but Blackner decided to pop a few eyes himself Thursday night.
The senior guard scored 35 points as Canyon View blasted the visiting Dinos. Blackner hit four 3-pointers and the Falcons outscored Carbon 20-6 in a pivotal second period en route to the blowout win. Mason Lyman chipped in 10 points and Parker Holmes had seven as CV improved to 3-7 on the season.
Canyon View allowed just 12 points in the first half in building a 16-point lead. The Falcons won every quarter of the game.
Blackner will take his 23.6 points a game average into Friday’s matchup against Spanish Fork. The Falcons and Dons square off at 6:30 p.m. at CVHS.
Tri-State Classic in Las Vegas
Hurricane 72, Sunrise Mountain (Nev.) 28
Hurricane 52, Mountain View (Ut.) 39
Jackson Last continues to lead the state in scoring (25.3 points a game), though he had a modest 23 against Sunrise Mountain and 24 vs. Mountain View.
In the early game, Hurricane played perhaps its best game of the year. The Tigers were running and gunning in the first half and built an amazing 48-18 halftime advantage.
“Sunrise Mountain played Lowry to a two-point game and we barely beat Lowry,” Hurricane coach Todd Langston said. “This was just a case of we played the best we’ve ever played. Everyone was involved and we moved ball and got good shots.”
With that win, Hurricane completed pool play with a 3-0 record and moved into the semifinals of the tournament. Awaiting them was Mountain View, from Orem.
“They’re the ones who beat us in the championship of this tournament last year, so we were pretty fired up to play them,” Langston said. “It was a satisfying win today, but it was an ugly game. It got really rough.”
The Tigers led 8-2 in a low-scoring opening period, then held to a 17-12 advantage at intermission.
“It got a little rugged, and we turned the ball over too much,” Langston said. “But even with that, we shot the ball pretty well – 48 percent – and we beat them pretty handily.”
Xayden Jackman had a couple of baskets to lead an 18-4 run to start the third quarter and the game was never close after that.
Last’s 24 points were complemented with Jackman’s 12 and Reagan Marshall’s nine. Hurricane made 16 of 24 free throws and outrebounded Mt. View 29-23.
The Tigers (7-3) have won six straight and will face tournament host Desert Oasis in the championship of the platinum bracket Friday at 3 p.m. (PST). The Diamondbacks feature Nevada’s leading scorer in Jacob Heese, who had 28 in their win over an Arizona school in the semifinals and is notching 29.3 points and 11.6 rebounds a game.
Riverton Holiday Classic – Quarterfinal
Dixie 59, Cyprus 52
The Flyers bounced back in a big way after dropping their first game of the season. Tanner Cuff had 18 points and Carson Bottema added 16 for Dixie, which improved to 7-1 on the season.
“Cyprus is a well-coached team that can really shoot it,” Dixie coach Ryan Cuff said. “They scored 94 points in a game against Wasatch this year. But our defense played well. We got up big and I subbed in some guys really early and Cyprus made a run and actually got the lead at halftime. We made some adjustments and took care of things in the second half.”
Dixie outscored Cyprus 34-23 after intermission and had the lead in double digits most of the second half.
“We struggled at the line again,” Cuff said. “The good news is that we are getting to the line. The bad news is we’re not hitting them. We are definitely working on that.”
Dixie made 17 of 29 charity shots, only 59 percent. But Cyprus went to the line just eight times, making four.
The win puts the Flyers in the semifinals of the Riverton Tourney where they’ll play Wasatch at 5:15 p.m. Dixie beat the Wasps 79-70 three weeks ago at DHS. The other semifinal has Riverton playing Cottonwood, which upset Kearns.
Utah Autism Classic at Olympus High School
Westlake 59, Desert Hills 38
What a roller coaster the DH Thunder have been on. Two weeks ago, they lost two games by a combined 45 points. Then last week they beat Cedar by 18 and followed that up with a 21-point win over Roy yesterday. Apparently what goes up must come down as Westlake squelched the DH offense to the tune of allowing just seven points in the first half.
The Westlake Thunder led by 22 at intermission and never let D-Hills get the lead into single digits in the game.
Tyler Webber was the only Desert Hills player to reach double figures with 11. Trevin Lindstrom had two 3-pointers, but DH had its second lowest point output of the season.
The Thunder (6-3) play two games on Friday before heading home. D-Hills battles Grantsville at 11:30 a.m. and then faces Park City at 5:30 p.m. with both games at Olympus High.
Thursday’s Region 9 boys basketball scores
Tri-State Classic – Hurricane 72, Sunrise Mountain 28 @ Desert Oasis (Nev.)
Tri-State Classic – Hurricane 52, Mountain View 39 @ Desert Oasis (Nev.)
Utah Autism Classic – Westlake 59, Desert Hills 38 @ Olympus
Riverton Holiday Classic – Dixie 59, Cyprus 52 @ Riverton
Steve Hodson Cancer Classic – Panguitch 50, Cedar 48 @ Cedar
Steve Hodson Cancer Classic – Canyon View 69, Carbon 40 @ CVHS
Steve Hodson Cancer Classic – Cedar 52, Ogden 42 @ Cedar
Friday’s Region 9 boys basketball schedule
Tri-State Classic – Hurricane vs. Desert Oasis, 3 p.m. @ Desert Oasis (Nev.)
Utah Autism Classic – Desert Hills vs. Grantsville, 11:30 a.m. @ Olympus
Utah Autism Classic – Desert Hills vs. Park City, 5:30 p.m. @ Olympus
Riverton Holiday Classic – Dixie vs. Wasatch, 5:15 p.m. @ Riverton
Steve Hodson Cancer Classic – Canyon View vs. Spanish Fork, 6:30 p.m. @ CVHS
Steve Hodson Cancer Classic – Cedar vs. American Leadership, 6:30 p.m. @ Cedar
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @oldschoolag
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2017, all rights reserved.