Thunder & Flyers stay unbeaten with Classic wins

Desert Hills vs. Salem Hills, Boys Basketball, St. George, UT, Dec. 9, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

ST. GEORGE – It’s definitely tournament time of year in basketball, a chance for local teams to matchup with foes from across the state with varying styles of play.

Saturday saw five Region 9 squads square off against foes from Mesquite to Logan, with the southern Utah squads going 3-3 on the day. Dixie and Desert Hills each improved to 4-0 with wins on the second day of the Ken Robinson Classic. Cedar also got a win – and a loss – beating host Virgin Valley in the Bulldog Invitational, but losing to Enterprise. Pine View and Snow Canyon weren’t as fortunate on the last day of the North vs. South Tournament at Sky View High School.

Here’s a look at the day’s action:

Desert Hills 74, Salem Hills 71, F/OT (Ken Robinson Classic)

The Skyhawks were smokin’ in the first half, hitting better than 60 percent from the floor in forging a 13-point halftime lead. Amazingly, the Thunder erased that lead in less than four minutes of the second half and held a six-point advantage in the fourth quarter.

“I really felt like we would come back, but I didn’t think it would happen that fast,” Thunder coach Wade Turley said. “The guys were pretty down at halftime and we had to build them up. I just told them that we wouldn’t play that bad in the second half and Salem Hills wouldn’t play that good.”

Desert Hills’ Trey Allred (3), Desert Hills vs. Salem Hills, Boys Basketball, St. George, UT, Dec. 9, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

Desert Hills forward Taylor Cox said his team showed resilience with the comeback.

“We were just thinking that we needed to play a lot better if we were going to have a chance in the second half,” he said. “We just came out tough and we wanted to show them we were better than what we showed in the first half.”

Even with the hot third quarter, Desert Hills couldn’t shake Salem Hills. The Thunder outscored the Skyhawks by 14 in the third, and held a five and six-point edge most of the fourth.

But Salem Hills rallied late in regulation. David Jones converted a three-point play and James Nelson hit a pair of clutch free throws to bring the Skyhawks within two.

After a Desert Hills turnover, Salem was able to tie the game on a basket inside by Jacob Rolfe. It was his only basket of the game. The Thunder couldn’t get a decent shot off in time to break the 69-69 tie and the game went to extra time.

DH started with the lead as Cox made 1 of 2 free throws to make it 70-69. Moments later, Cole Griffin hit two free throws for Salem Hills to give the Skyhawks a 71-70 advantage … and then the well went dry. Neither team could get a lid off the basket for more than two minutes.

Finally, with 29 seconds left, Desert Hills point guard Trey Allred drove through the lane and finger-rolled a layup to put the Thunder up 72-71.

Desert Hills’ Tyler Marz (35), Desert Hills vs. Salem Hills, Boys Basketball, St. George, UT, Dec. 9, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

After a Salem Hills miss, Trevin Lindstrom nailed both ends of a one-and-one to make it 74-71. A trey attempt by Rolfe at the buzzer was just short.

Desert Hills, 4-0, got 20 points from Tyler Marz, with all 20 coming after halftime. Lindstrom chipped in 19, including three 3-pointers. Tyler Webber had 13 points. Cox had seven points and seven rebounds and Allred had seven points and nine assists.

The Thunder participate in the Coach Walker Classic next Friday and Saturday at Dixie State. DH opens with Alta Friday at 4:30 p.m. at Burns Arena, then plays Maple Mountain Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

Dixie 79, Wasatch 70 (Ken Robinson Classic)

A 60-second stretch in the first quarter helped the Flyers seize control and the lead in the home victory.

Down 6-4 a couple of minutes into the game, Dixie’s Carson Bottema hit a corner trey, followed by a 3-pointer from Tanner Cuff. And a few seconds later, Bottema hit a deep ball from straight on and Dixie had turned the two-point deficit into a 13-6 lead.

The Flyers would not trail again and led by as many as 22 before Wasatch made a late face-saving run to cut it under 10.

Bottema and Cuff each hit two treys in the game and finished with 16 points apiece. Center Derek Cox tossed in another 14 for the Flyers, who won their fourth straight game to start the season.

Dixie is participating in the Coach Walker Classic next weekend, with games on Thursday and Friday. The Flyers battle Maple Mountain Thursday at 6:30 p.m. and then square off against Logan Friday at 7:30 p.m. Both games are at Dixie State’s Burns Arena.

Enterprise 57, Cedar 54 (Bulldog Invitational)
Cedar 58, Virgin Valley 39

Enterprise high school utahSophomore Dallin Grant scored 20 points and had seven rebounds in the win over Virgin Valley. Dallin Peterson added 15 points and Treyton Tebbs had 12 as the Redmen dominated from the opening tip.

Against the Wolves, Grant topped his own career high by pouring in 22 points, making four 3-pointers along the way. Peterson added 10 more in that contest, which was close all the way.

Chasen Truman led Enterprise with 23 points, with five 3-pointers. The Wolves are 2-5 on the season.

Cedar, 3-3, plays North Sanpete at 7 p.m. next Friday.

Ridgeline 67, Pine View 61 (North vs. South tourney)

The Panthers had trailed by as many as 19 points in the game, but came roaring back in the fourth quarter. Tayler Tobler hit a 3-pointer and Michael Moten made a fast-break layup that cut the RiverHawks lead to 61-58 with a minute left to play.

But the defending state champs made four straight free throws to push it to 65-58. Another trey by Tobler cut it to 65-61 with just seconds remaining. Ridgeline iced it with two more free throws.

The RiverHawks made a living at the free throw line in the game, shooting 34 charity shots and making 27 of those (79 percent). Pine View was called for 22 fouls to just 12 for Ridgeline.

Landon Brenchley led RHS with 18 points, while Tobler led all scorers with 22 points. Dallin Brown had eight points and five rebounds for PV, which has dropped two straight after starting the season 4-0.

The Panthers are the hosts for next week’s Coach Walker Classic. Pine View plays on its own court against Logan Thursday at 8 p.m. The Panthers then face Roy at 6 p.m. at Burns Arena Friday night before wrapping up the tourney Saturday with a 2 p.m. matchup with Fremont, also at DSU.

Mountain Crest 70, Snow Canyon 59 (North vs. South tourney)

Big center Joey Robertson had a career-high 29 points, but the Warriors dropped their sixth game in seven tries this season.

Robertson, a junior, averaged just four points a game last year, reaching double figures just twice all season. But he’s already reached double figures four times this year, setting his previous career high at 19 points against Highland on Dec. 1.

He also had five rebounds and two assists, but didn’t get a ton of help from his teammates. Parker High, a new move-in from Texas, had 16 points, but no other Snow Canyon player had more than five points in the loss. Leading scorer Braden Baker was held to two points, while Bryson Childs have five points, eight rebounds and six assists.

Snow Canyon, 1-6, plays two games at the Coach Walker Classic next week. The Warriors battle Manti at 3:30 p.m. at Burns Arena on Thursday, then take on Uintah at 11 a.m. Saturday, also at Burns.

Next week’s Coach Walker Classic Tournament (all games at Burns Arena unless otherwise noted)
THURSDAY
3:30 p.m. – Manti vs. Snow Canyon
5 p.m. – Hurricane vs. Uintah
6:30 p.m. – Maple Mountain vs. Dixie
8 p.m. – Roy vs. Green Canyon
8 p.m. – Pine View vs. Logan (@ Pine View High)
9:30 p.m. – Alta vs. Fremont

FRIDAY
1:30 p.m. – Green Canyon vs. Uintah
3 p.m. – Hurricane vs. Manti
4:30 p.m. – Desert Hills vs. Alta
6 p.m. – Roy vs. Pine View
7:30 p.m. – Dixie vs. Logan
9 p.m. – Fremont vs. Maple Mountain

SATURDAY
8 a.m. – Green Canyon vs. Manti
9:30 a.m. – Roy vs. Hurricane
11 a.m. – Uintah vs. Snow Canyon
12:30 p.m. – Logan vs. Alta
2 p.m. – Pine View vs. Fremont
3:30 p.m. – Maple Mountain vs. Desert Hills

Region 9 girls basketball scores
Riverton 42, Desert Hills 25 – Annie Frame and Jessica Mathis had six each for DH.
Richfield 44, Hurricane 40 – Hailey Homer led the Tigers with 11 points.

Region 9 Boys Basketball Standings
Desert Hills 4-0
Dixie 4-0
Pine View 4-2
Cedar 3-3
Canyon View 2-5
Snow Canyon 1-6
Hurricane 0-2

Region 9 Girls Basketball Standings
Cedar 3-1
Dixie 2-2
Pine View 1-1
Snow Canyon 2-3
Canyon View 1-4
Hurricane 1-4
Desert Hills 0-4

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @oldschoolag

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2017, all rights reserved.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.