Region 9 basketball scores: Boys sweep, girls get swept Friday

Written by Rich Allen
December 12, 2020

ST. GEORGE — Region 9 basketball teams went a combined 6-5 in preseason action Friday night across gender lines. Boys teams did not lose, while girls teams could not scrape out a win, despite finishing with a deficit of five points or fewer in three of their games. Here are the scores from those games:

Boys

Snow Canyon 59, Enterprise 39

Enterprise vs Snow Canyon basketball, Crimson Cliffs High School, Washington, Utah, Dec. 11, 2020 | Photo by Rich Allen, St. George News

The Snow Canyon Warriors did not benefit from the same shooting success from the arc in their Friday night win over Enterprise as they did the night before.

They landed eight from the arc against the Wolves at the Challenge at the Cliffs, a normally respectable mark but not so much after hitting 10 more the previous game. Snow Canyon had to adapt to an Enterprise team that played more physically than Kanab the night before, and the hands simply weren’t as hot as they were on Thursday.

“Enterprise did a good job of mixing up their defenses and throwing us out of rhythm,” Snow Canyon head coach Doug Meacham said. “Plain and simple, we weren’t in a good rhythm on offense because we were going so darn fast. We just need to learn to pull it back on defense.”

It was another game the Warriors were supposed to win against another 2A opponent, but that did not mean the game was played perfectly. Meacham said the team played too fast, and often got ahead of themselves on both sides of the court. They were called for traveling upward of five times. They gave Enterprise 24 shots from the free-throw line, which accounted for 14 points. 

They committed 23 fouls. Sophomore giant Lyman Simmons, who is largely responsible for opening opportunities in the post, got whistled for a foul four times, one away from fouling out. He had to dial back his game, scoring only one field goal in the second half after accounting for 15 of Snow Canyon’s 24 first-half points.

Meacham said the refs were calling a tighter game, and while he likes to be physical, especially with guys like Simmons, they have to know where the officiating is drawing the line.

“Some of those, you have to adjust to how it’s being called,” Meacham said.

Senior guards Lincoln Polatis and Blake Munson recorded 13 and 10 points, respectively. One night after getting seven to fall from the perimeter, Polatis sank three.

The Warriors jumped to 4-1 in preseason play. 

Hurricane 42, Layton Christian 40

At American Fork High School, the Tigers allowed only 14 first-half points, just enough defense to compensate for a field goal percentage of just 34. Senior Josh Leavenworth led the team with 16 points, including all four of Hurricane’s 3-pointers. He also led the way with six boards, four in the offensive zone.

Cedar 81, Wasatch 55

At Skyridge High School, the Reds set the tone with a 25 point first quarter, outscoring Wasatch in each stanza, save for a tie at 17 in the third. Treyton Tebbs scored 26 points, including four buckets from the arc. Luke Armstrong and Zab Santana each scored 17 of their own.

Dixie 73, Viewmont 60

At American Fork High School, the Flyers pulled away with a 21-point fourth quarter to bounce back from their first loss on the season on Thursday. Dixie improved to 3-1.

Crimson Cliffs 75, Real Salt Lake Academy 53

The Mustangs’ offense continues to sizzle, topping 70 points for the fourth time in as many games at home on Friday. Crimson scored the game’s first 10 points and did not trail for the entirety of the game, topping the 2A Griffins.

Real Salt Lake Academy at Crimson Cliffs basketball, Washington, Utah, Dec. 11, 2020 | Photo by Rich Allen, St. George News

RSL made it more interesting than it could have been in the fourth quarter, scoring 22 points and closing the gap to 11 points after entering the frame down by 21.

Trei Rockhill scored 26 points, going 9-for-15 from the field, including 4-for-6 from the arc. Four different Mustangs scored double digits. Rockhill went 4-for-4 on free throws, and Cole Sampson went 6-for-6, making the team perfect on 1-pointers. The Mustangs have shown that they can score.

“We know that we can hit shots,” Crimson Cliffs head coach Kasey Winters said. “We want to run and things like that. We hit some tough shots tonight, but it was kind of in the full game. We did a good job of letting our defense transition to our offense and help us get some easy buckets in transition. We were able to create a few more easy opportunities for ourselves.”

The Mustangs are now a perfect 4-0 on the year, outscoring opponents 321-251. Their lowest scoring effort was 73 points against Enterprise on Thursday.

Desert Hills 59, Maple Mountain 51

After scoring only 11 points in the first half, the Thunder exploded for 27 in the third and 21 in the fourth to remain undefeated through four preseason games. Desert Hills benefited from 30 trips to the free-throw line, converting on 20. Transfer Mason Landdeck had his first sub-20 point game, but still led the team with 16.

Girls

Carbon 43, Desert Hills 38 

At USU Eastern, Shailee Bundy scored 17 points, but it wasn’t enough to overcome sending Carbon to the free-throw line 27 times. Carbon’s 15 conversions from the line made the difference. The Thunder drop to 2-2 on the season.

Kanab 57, Canyon View 43

Addison Newman recorded 17 points but the Falcons could not recover from scoring eight points in both the first and third quarters. Eight different players scored for Kanab, led by Rylee Anderson’s 19. The Falcons fall to 1-3 in preseason play.

Ridgeline 53, Cedar 48

The Reds led at halftime but were outscored 13-1 in the third quarter and were unable to recover. Cedar drops to 0-3 in preseason play.

Uintah 43, Hurricane 34

The Tigers managed only 17 points through the first three quarters before matching that mark in the last eight minutes. Haley Chesley scored 12 points and freshman Nizhoni Dominguez scored seven points and had seven rebounds in her high school debut. Britton Behrmann recorded 10 boards. Hurricane drops to 0-3 in preseason play.

Richfield 51, Snow Canyon 47

The Warriors sent Richfield to the line 23 times and saw the Wildcats score on 17 of those to make the difference in the final. Snow Canyon landed six buckets from beyond the arc, including two each by Jocelyn Olson and Taylan Whitehead. The Warriors are winless through four games this season.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rich joined St. George News in October 2020. The Colorado native graduated from Metropolitan State University of Denver in December 2018, where he was a sports and managing editor at the student publication, The Metropolitan. He worked as a media relations assistant for the minor league baseball club New Orleans Baby Cakes in 2019.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @RAllenSTGNews@STGnews

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