Snow Canyon grabs much-needed OT win at Richfield

File photo of Snow Canyon's Braden Baker (3), Snow Canyon vs. Enterprise, Boy's Basketball, St. George, Utah, Nov. 30, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

RICHFIELD – Snow Canyon has had a rough preseason, thanks in part to an aggressive schedule that included games at Sky View and Riverton, plus neutral-site contests against Lehi, defending champ Ridgeline and Highland.

But maybe all that topnotch competition started to pay some dividends Wednesday night as the Warriors gutted out a 50-49 overtime victory at Richfield.

“We needed this one, especially considering the tough preseason schedule we’ve played,” Snow Canyon coach Jamison Sorensen said. “Richfield is a quality team and we were able to pull this one out in their gym under tough circumstances.”

Snow Canyon led by as many as nine points in the fourth quarter, but foul-shooting woes helped the Wildcats come all the way back to tie the game in regulation. Richfield even had a shot at a trey at the buzzer to win.

“Bryson Childs played great defense on that last shot,” Sorensen said. “I was extremely frustrated that we let that big lead slip away, but we made up for it in overtime.”

Sophomore left-hander Cole Warner has logged big-time minutes for the Warriors this preseason. He just missed a 3-pointer in regulation that likely would have put the game away. But he nailed a huge one in the extra frame to help save the day.

File photo of Snow Canyon’s Joey Robertson (33), Snow Canyon vs. Canyon View, Boys Basketball, St. George, Utah, Dec. 8, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

With Snow Canyon trailing by four and under 30 seconds to play, Warner got loose and buried a deep ball to cut the Richfield lead to 49-48. The Wildcats tried to quickly inbound the ball after the shot and Brooks Sampson got a steal to give the Warriors the ball back.

“We called timeout immediately and drew up a play,” Sorensen said. “We got the ball to (center) Joey (Robertson), and he was right where he needed to be and put it in. He was big tonight. He did a good job of establishing his post presence early.”

Robertson’s go-ahead bucket came with six seconds left. Richfield tried a desperation trey at the buzzer that was off the mark, giving the Warriors their second win in eight preseason tries.

“Cole Warner is kind of our little secret,” Sorenson said. “He put in long hours and lots of time this summer and got himself ready to play varsity, even though he’s only a sophomore. He made some big plays tonight.”

The Warriors, 2-6, got 18 points from Robertson and 10 from Warner. Childs, who leads 4A in rebounding, had eight points and seven rebounds. Braden Baker chipped in seven points.

Snow Canyon will participate in the Coach Walker Classic this weekend at Dixie State’s Burns Arena. The Warriors play Manti at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, then battle Uintah at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

Richfield, 5-3, got 13 points from Hunter Peterson. The Wildcats are now 2-2 against Region 9 foes, having beaten Hurricane and Cedar and lost to Pine View and Snow Canyon. All four games were decided by six points or less.

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.