Flyers win again, now 7-0; DH, CV dominate in road wins

ST. GEORGE – Confidence is a funny thing. In order to have it, you need to earn it. In order to earn it, you need to have it. But confidence was instrumental in the three games Wednesday night in Region 9 boys basketball.

For the Dixie Flyers, who are oozing with confidence, a 15-point first half was just a small bump on the highway to a huge win at home against Pine View. For Desert Hills, which sits alone in second place in the region, confidence showed in a monstrous third-quarter run that changed the game against Snow Canyon. And Canyon View, which has won five straight region games after starting 0-3, took its confidence from the recent win streak and a desire for revenge against cross-town rival Cedar.

Here’s how it played out:

Dixie 49, Pine View 27

The bad news for the Flyers was they managed just five points in the second quarter and 15 in the entire first half. The good news: Dixie only allowed three points in the first quarter and was tied at 15-15 at halftime with the Panthers.

“Give credit to Pine View for staying in it and forcing us into way too many turnovers in the first half,” Dixie coach Ryan Cuff said, “But the fact that we held them to 15 points, well that’s what we like to see and that’s what we talked about at halftime. We knew the shots would start falling in the second half.”

Pine View’s Michael Moten (10) and Dixie’s Payton Wilgar (1), Dixie vs. Pine View, Boys Basketball, St. George, Utah, Jan. 31, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

Boy did they as Dixie posted up 22 points in the third quarter and held the Panthers to just 12 points in the entire second half.

“I don’t think, in all my years of coaching, we’ve ever held a team to 27 points,” Cuff said. “We held Snow Canyon to 32 a couple of weeks ago, and I was really proud of that. But this was special. We just tried to use our length and we trapped a little bit and we knew if we got some tips that it would lead to easy baskets and give us a little more momentum.”

Pine View actually held a 20-17 lead a minute into the second half after a basket by Jack O’Donnell and a 3-pointer by Hunter Moore. But Dixie clamped down after that, going on an 11-0 run. Carson Bottema started the run with a couple of baskets inside and the dry stretch for Pine View lasted more than five minutes.

Moore had a 2 and a 3 to cut the deficit to 30-25 late in the third, but the Flyers finished the period with a 9-0 flourish to put the lead at 39-25 heading into the fourth period.

“Pine View is very young and we knew that,” Cuff said. “We wanted to use our maturity and our leadership, knowing we have a strong senior class. And our depth really helped us out, too. I think Pine View got tired later in the game.”

The Panthers managed just a single field goal by Michael Moten at the four-minute mark for the entire fourth period.

Bottema led the way for the Flyers with 18 points and center Derek Cox had 10. Tanner Cuff had nine points and a handful of assists. Dixie made 21 of 41 field goals in the game (51 percent), and again proved the 3-pointer is not necessary for a winning basketball team. Dixie was 0 for 7 from deep.

Dixie’s Jace Bennett (5), Dixie vs. Pine View, Boys Basketball, St. George, Utah, Jan. 31, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

O’Donnell led PV with 11 points and Moore added nine. But it was a miserable shooting night for the visiting Panthers. Pine View made just 10 of 34 shots (29 percent) and 4 for 22 on treys (18 percent). PV also hit just 3 of 8 free throws.

The Flyers improve to 15-3 overall and 7-0 in region play. Those gaudy numbers will be tested Friday night as Dixie visits Canyon View, winners of five straight. The Flyers beat the Falcons 57-53 back on Jan. 10 at DHS.

Pine View falls to 2-6 in region and 6-11 overall. The Panthers host Hurricane Friday. The Tigers beat PV 55-53 in double overtime three weeks ago in the now infamous stall game.

Desert Hills 63, Snow Canyon 47

Sometimes, Snow Canyon looks like the best team in Region 9. During a six-minute stretch of the second quarter against the Thunder, the Warriors went on a 12-0 run and went into the locker room with a seven-point halftime lead.

But then the well went dry for SC and Desert Hills started to hit shots. And that was all she wrote, so to speak.

“The boys came out with a resolve to play with more energy and smarter decision-making the second half,” said Thunder coach Wade Turley. “The first four minutes of the third quarter was tremendous for us.”

File photo, Desert Hills’ Tyler Marz (35), Pine View vs. Desert Hills, Boys Basketball, St. George, UT. Jan. 12, 2018, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

The defending region champ Desert Hills team wasted little time after halftime in getting things going. Trevin Lindstrom hit a 3-pointer 10 seconds into the third quarter to cut it to 29-25. Tucker Peterson followed with a jumper to make it 29-27 less than a minute later.

Bryson Childs stopped the bleeding momentarily with a post basket off the glass. But D-Hills countered with an inside bucket by Ryan Marz at the 6:25 mark to make it 31-29. Neither team scored for nearly two minutes after the Marz basket, but when the lid finally came off, it was with another Lindstrom 3-pointer that gave the Thunder a 32-31 lead. D-Hills scored five more unanswered points to complete the impressive 15-2 run and take a 37-31 lead with 3:04 left in the third quarter.

“Lindstrom is the ignition for our team – he gets us going,” Ryan Marz said. “We really need him out there hitting shots. He’s good for us, really good for us.”

Snow Canyon hung in the game and trailed just 48-42 with 5:58 left to play. But the Warriors again struggled at the free throw line in the fourth quarter. Over the next three minutes of game play, Snow Canyon would miss seven out of eight free throws (including the front end of a one-and-one) and watch helplessly as the Thunder extended the lead out to 60-45.

“Our heads were up at halftime because we knew we could be playing better,” Tyler Marz said. “We knew we just needed to share the ball and have some fun. We just decided to come out the second half and play hard and have fun. Confidence is huge. We know we’ll miss some shots and we can’t let ourselves get down because of it. We’ve just got to keep our heads up and keep working hard.”

Tyler Marz had one of his best games of the season, especially the fourth quarter. As DH was extending its lead late, he accounted for eight fourth quarter points, including a monster jam on a backdoor cut with 35 seconds left.

“I saw the opportunity and knew I had to go hard and I just dunked it,” he said. “Once I took a dribble I knew I had it. I collected myself and I went up and I jammed it. It’s way fun to get up there.”

Ryan Marz led the Thunder with 16 points and eight rebounds. Tyler Marz had 15 points and seven boards, while Lindstrom chipped in 11 points and Trey Allred dished out six assists.

For Snow Canyon, Braden Baker finished with 12 points and Childs had 11. But the Warriors were outscored 41-18 in the second half and finished just 14 for 26 from the free throw line (54 percent).

The Thunder, 13-5 overall and 6-2 in region play, have a bye Friday night and are in action next Wednesday with a home game against Pine View.

Snow Canyon, 6-12 and 2-6, is at Cedar Friday night.

Canyon View 55, Cedar 36

To say the Falcons were looking forward to this rematch with rival Cedar is a bit of an understatement.

“Twenty-six days,” said Canyon View coach Rob Potter. “You know, I appreciate that the kids didn’t lose sight of what we had between then and now, but we have been looking forward to this game for a long time now.”

In that first meeting, the Falcons scored just one point in the first quarter en route to a disappointing 46-44 loss to the Redmen.

“Tonight, Joey Lambeth had a really good game, especially the first quarter,” Potter said. “On the very first possession of the game, he scored and we joked that we had already doubled our score from last time.”

File photo, Joey Lambeth (32), Cedar City, Utah, Dec. 29, 2017 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Lambeth, the senior guard who was held to nine points in the first meeting, finished the night with 22 points on 8 of 14 shooting. He also made 5 of 6 free throws and the Falcons were 15 for 20 in the game (75 percent).

“He had a really nice night,” Potter said. “Joey came out on fire and scored nine of our first 13 points. Parker Holmes also had a great night, especially from the free throw line. He was able to get fouled and get to the line and he made them all (7 for 7).”

Canyon View never trailed in the game and jumped out to an 8-2 lead early on. By halftime, it was a 27-15 advantage.

“They made a little run on us in the third quarter and got it within six,” Potter said. “They were able to hit a couple of 3s and that freshman, Dallin Grant, had nine points in the quarter. They actually won the third quarter 10-9.”

But the fourth was all Canyon View as the Falcons outscored the Redmen 19-11 in the final eight minutes to cruise to the win.

“I was impressed with the guys’ reaction after the game,” Potter said. “There wasn’t a lot of celebrating. We know we’re going after bigger fish.”

The smaller Falcons outrebounded Cedar 26-14 and CV was 18 for 37 from the floor (48.6 percent). Brantzen Blackner had a quiet scoring night with seven points, but also had 11 rebounds and a couple of steals. Holmes was second on the team in scoring with 13 points.

Grant led Cedar with 14 points, but no other player scored more than seven. Star shooting guard Ethan Boettcher struggled from outside, making just one 3-pointer on 10 attempts.

Canyon View, which improved to 10-10 overall and 5-3 in region, is now in third place, a half-game ahead of Hurricane. The Falcons host unbeaten Dixie Friday night.

Cedar, 8-11 and 1-7, will play host to Snow Canyon Friday night.

Wednesday’s results
Dixie 49, Pine View 27
Desert Hills 63, Snow Canyon 47
Canyon View 55, Cedar 36

Region 9 Standings
Dixie  7-0, 15-3
Desert Hills  6-2, 13-5
Canyon View  5-3, 10-10
Hurricane  4-3, 10-7
Pine View  2-6, 6-11
Snow Canyon  2-6, 6-12
Cedar  1-7, 8-11

Friday’s games
Dixie at Canyon View
Hurricane at Pine View
Snow Canyon at Cedar

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @oldschoolag

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2018, all rights reserved.

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