Region 9 basketball: Dixie outlasts Hurricane; Cedar, Desert Hills, Crimson roll to wins

Cedar guard Treyton Tebbs makes a reverse layup, Cedar at Snow Canyon, St. George, Utah, Jan. 29, 2021 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

ST. GEORGE — In Friday night’s closest Region 9 game, Dixie held off a serious challenge by the feisty Hurricane Tigers, with the Flyers managing to eke out a four-point win at home. In other Region 9 boys basketball action, Desert Hills, Cedar and Crimson Cliffs all rolled to decisive wins of 20 or more points. Following are recaps of Friday’s games:

Cedar 70, Snow Canyon 45

At Snow Canyon, the Cedar Reds bounced back in a big way from their 101-100 double-overtime loss at Desert Hills on Wednesday.

After an evenly battled first half, the Reds took a 23-20 halftime lead. But Cedar opened the floodgates in the third quarter, going on a 31-point scoring spree while holding the Warriors to just seven points. Cedar guard Treyton Tebbs, back in the lineup after missing the past couple games, scored 10 of his game high 21 points during the third, while center Dallin Grant added 12 of his 16 during that same span. The Reds drained six 3-pointers during the third, including three by Grant.

But it was Grant’s defensive prowess that drew his coach’s praise.

Cedar at Snow Canyon, St. George, Utah, Jan. 29, 2021 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

“Dallin was tremendous on defense tonight, holding their big to two points,” Cedar coach Mark Esplin said.

“It was a great bounce-back win for us,” Esplin added. “We preach team ball on both ends of the floor, and I feel like we did that for 32 minutes tonight.”

Also for Cedar, Zab Santana contributed 10 points, while Gaige Savage and Ty Harrison each added nine.

Snow Canyon was led by Blake Munson’s 12 points, while Walker Morrison added 11.

Cedar improves to 5-3 in region play, 10-5 overall. The Reds next play at Hurricane on Wednesday.

Snow Canyon fell to 4-4 in region play with the loss, 11-5 overall. The Warriors travel to Pine View on Wednesday.

Desert Hills 69, Canyon View 37

At Desert Hills, the Thunder scored early and often to build a sizable first half lead, then coasted to a 69-37 win over Canyon View.

Canyon View at Desert Hills, St. George, Utah, Jan. 29, 2021 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Two nights after he scored 50 points in a double-overtime win over Cedar, Desert Hills guard Mason Landdeck appeared like he was going to light up the scoreboard once again, draining his first three shots of the game, all from 3-point range, as the Thunder took a 22-9 lead by the end of the first quarter.

However, Landdeck ended up with 14 points on the night, as he shifted to more of a passing role, getting numerous assists as his teammates took on more of the scoring.

Desert Hills defense shone as well, nearly shutting out the Falcons during the second period, riding a 21-2 run to post a 43-11 halftime lead.

That 32-point margin held up throughout the second half, as both teams scored the same amount of points after intermission.

Justin Judkins also finished with 14 points to tie Landdeck for the team lead. Chomp Jones added 11 and Keegan Munson scored 10 in the Thunder’s balanced offensive attack.

Canyon View was led by Andrew Barnes’ 10 points, including the Falcon’s only basket of the second quarter.

Desert Hills, which improved to 7-1 in Region 9 play, is currently the No. 1 ranked team in the statewide 4A rankings (see updated standings chart below). The Thunder will next play at Crimson Cliffs on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Canyon View stayed winless in region play with the loss. The Falcons host Dixie on Wednesday.

Dixie 56, Hurricane 52

Coming fresh off their first Region 9 win of the season two nights earlier, the Hurricane Tigers visited the Hangar and gave the defending champion Dixie Flyers a run for their money.

Hurricane at Dixie, St. George, Utah, Jan. 29, 2021 | Photo by Aaron Crane, St. George News

Sloppy, turnover-heavy basketball for both teams resulted in a low scoring game in the early going, with both teams finally reaching double digits as the first quarter came to a close. Dixie maintained a slim 11-10 edge after the first eight minutes and didn’t spread it out despite being the heavy favorite. At halftime, the Flyers had only pushed their lead to four points, 24-20.

A strong third quarter saw the Flyers build a lead of 13 points in the closing seconds at 44-31 on the strength of 10 Ethan Bennett points. They ended the quarter 48-36 and had seemingly set up to pull away.

The Tigers had different ideas, taking 12 of the first 14 points in the final frame to get back within two points. Cason Esplin hit back-to-back 3-pointers from the top of the arc for Hurricane and Josh Leavenworth hit another from the perimeter in a 10-point run to start the fourth for Hurricane. The score stood at 52-50 with 30 seconds to play in favor of Dixie before Bennett hit a leaping layup to spread it out to four points. Kevin Bunn hit a rushing layup for Hurricane to get them back within two before Bennett landed a pair of free throws with five seconds left to seal the deal.

Bennett scored a game-leading 24 points, 18 of which came in the second half. He went 4-for-5 from the free-throw line and added four assists. Alessio Dehart also reached double digits for Dixie, scoring 12 and came within two rebounds of a double-double. Eight of his points came in the third quarter.

Leavenworth led Hurricane with 13 points. Esplin had 11, and the two each had half of the team’s six baskets from beyond the arc.

Hurricane falls to 2-14 and 1-7 in Region 9 play. The Tigers host Cedar next.

The Flyers improve to 13-3 overall and 7-1 in league. They’ll take on the Falcons at Canyon View on Wednesday.

— written by Rich Allen

Crimson Cliffs 82, Pine View 62

The Panthers held on as long as they could against the high-scoring Mustangs at home.

Pine View kept Crimson Cliffs within two points at both the first and second quarter buzzers before exploding in the third. The Mustangs went on a 10-3 run with a defensive kill to pull out to a double-digit lead for the first time in the game at 52-42 with just under three minutes to play in the third quarter. Brock Felder hit a field goal and a dunk in the sequence. The Mustangs outscored the Panthers 21-11 in the frame.

Crimson Cliffs at Pine View, St. George, Utah, Jan. 29, 2021 | Photo by Aaron Crane, St. George News

But a 27-point fourth quarter would be the dagger. Felder added an additional 11 points including another dunk and a free throw to bring his total on the night to 21, leading Crimson Cliffs. Cole Sampson landed seven free throws and the team hit 13 from the line in the quarter as a whole to put the nail in the coffin.

“Great job by our guys tonight,” said Crimson Cliffs head coach Kasey Winters. “We were able to play better defense than in the first half and did a much better job rebounding the ball and creating better shots.”

Felder’s standout game drew praise from his coach. “I loved how aggressive we was going to the basket and finishing strong,” Winters said.

Sampson added 18 points and Trei Rockhill scored 15 for the Mustangs.

“Cole Sampson had a great night from the free-throw line. He did a good job getting there often,” Winters added. “Trei did a good job distributing the ball and he hit open shots when they came.”

Several players made solid contributions from the Crimson bench, including Travis Mathews, Phoenix McWillis, Bridger Jones and Jackson McKone.

For Pine View, Lucca Mamone led the team in scoring with 21 points. The Panthers had three additional double-digit scorers: Josh Bice with 14, Benson Shepherd with 13 and Rushton Shaw with 10.

Crimson improves to 14-2 and 6-2 in Region 9. It rematches with Desert Hills on Wednesday.

Pine View falls to 3-11 overall and 2-6 in region play. The Panthers host the Snow Canyon Warriors next.

— written by Rich Allen

Wednesday’s game schedule (Feb. 3)

  • Dixie at Canyon View
  • Desert Hills at Crimson Cliffs
  • Snow Canyon at Pine View
  • Cedar at Hurricane

Region 9 boys basketball standings (as of Jan. 30)

  1. Desert Hills 7-1 (15-1) RPI: 1st
  2. Dixie 7-1 (13-3) RPI: 4th
  3. Crimson Cliffs 6-2 (14-2) RPI: 2nd
  4. Cedar 5-3 (10-5) RPI: 6th
  5. Snow Canyon 4-4 (11-5) RPI: 8th
  6. Pine View 2-6 (3-11) RPI: 16th
  7. Hurricane 1-7 (2-14) RPI: 17th
  8. Canyon View 0-8 (1-15) RPI: 19th

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2021, all rights reserved.

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