Region 10 boys basketball: Dixie wins at home; Desert Hills, Cedar victorious on road

Written by E. George Goold
February 11, 2022
Crimson Cliffs hosts Cedar in a Region 10 boys basketball game, Washington, Utah, Feb. 11, 2022 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — Although the Snow Canyon boys basketball team was idle on Friday night, the Warriors are assured of at least a share of Region 10 title. With one game left on the schedule, Snow Canyon’s region record stands at 9-2, while Dixie improved to 8-3 on Friday with a home win over Hurricane.

Should the Warriors lose their season finale Tuesday at home vs. Crimson Cliffs and the Dixie Flyers win at Pine View, both Snow Canyon and Dixie would finish tied atop the Region 10 standings with 9-3 records. The teams split their two meetings this season, with Snow Canyon winning 45-40 at Dixie on Jan. 12 and Dixie returning the favor with a 49-44 win at Snow Canyon on Feb. 4.

However, if Snow Canyon, currently the top-ranked 4A team in the state, wins on Tuesday (or if Dixie loses), the Warriors will be the outright region champions.

Elsewhere around St. George on Friday night, Cedar and Desert Hills both claimed victories on the road, with the Reds winning at Crimson Cliffs and the Thunder thumping Pine View to win their second consecutive game.

Following are recaps of Friday night’s games:

Cedar 66, Crimson Cliffs 55

The visiting Reds secured the victory by pulling ahead in the final quarter and clinging to the lead from the free throw line. 

The contest was slow paced, low scoring and full of fouls as both teams struggled to find an offensive rhythm. 

Crimson Cliffs hosts Cedar in a Region 10 boys basketball game, Washington, Utah, Feb. 11, 2022 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

“I’m not sure we came in with a plan to slow it down,” Cedar coach Mark Esplin told St. George News after the win. “But when it started out we got into some foul trouble and we knew we had to slow it down.”

He added that senior stars Zab Santana and Aaron Munson each had three fouls early in the third quarter so Esplin had to change course.

“We’ve got to really take the air out of the ball for a while because we’re not the same team if they’re not on the floor,” Esplin said.

Tyler Luekenga drove to the hoop and scored for Crimson Cliffs to end the first quarter tied, 16-16.

Then, Tyler Bronson canned a 3-pointer at the buzzer for Cedar that put the Reds ahead 31-29 at halftime. 

“This win meant a lot. We came off of two games where we didn’t play very good,” Esplin said. “We didn’t play team basketball, and I don’t have one kid who’s big enough to go win it himself. We’ve got to play the team game.”

Both squads scored 11 points in the third frame and Cedar led just 42-40 going into the final quarter.

Travis Mathews scored a bucket and sank two free throws as the Mustangs got as close as 46-45 at the 6:15 minute mark of the fourth.

Munson then stepped up for the Reds. He had a huge bucket and was fouled by Jackson McKone, who had to leave the floor with his fifth foul.

Munson converted the and-1 for a 54-47 Cedar lead with 3:01 left.

Cedar wrapped up the win with a run that saw Stockton Albrecht score all alone under the basket, then hit 1-of-2 free throws on the next possession.

Bronson sank a jumper and the Reds were ahead for good 59-47 with 1:16 left in the game.

The Reds had four players finish with double-digit scoring. Albrecht and Munson scored 17 points apiece and each hit a 3-pointer. Santana scored 13 and Bronson netted 11 for the winners.

Hudson Hawes scored 11 points to pace the Mustangs before fouling out with a little over a minute left in the contest. Mathews and Jaden Jensen both scored nine points in the setback while McKone and Jordan Eaton each contributed eight points for Crimson Cliffs.

Cedar improved to 5-6 in Region 10 play and finishes the regular season Tuesday night at Hurricane at 7 p.m.

“We’ve just got to battle. We’ve got one more against Hurricane and let the chips fall where they are,” Esplin said. “But we’ve got to win four after that.”

Crimson Cliffs fell to 7-4 in region play and wraps up its regular season Tuesday night at Snow Canyon at 7 p.m.

Desert Hills 64, Pine View 45

The Thunder won for the second consecutive game. Both teams now have three region wins, and Desert Hills completed its regular season slate at 3-9, 7-14 overall.

Desert Hills hosts Pine View in a Region 10 boys basketball game, St. George, Utah, Feb. 11, 2022 | Photo by Aaron Crane, St. George News

Pine View is 3-8 in region play, 8-12 overall, and has a chance to improve on those records Tuesday night in its last game at home against Dixie.

Dixie 49, Hurricane 39 

At Dixie, the Flyers started strong, then managed to hold off the feisty Hurricane Tigers.

Senior forward Bronson Barben had a monster game for Dixie, scoring 15 points, pulling down 18 rebounds and making six steals.

“He put us on his back and carried us to the win,” Dixie coach Tyler Roberts said of Barben.

“It was a very rough game. Hurricane played tough,” Roberts added.

Dixie had opened a 16-4 lead after one quarter, but Hurricane narrowed the gap to seven points by halftime, when the Flyers led, 24-17.

Hurricane also won the third quarter, 12-10, but still trailed by five heading into the final stanza. At one point, the Tigers were down by just three and had the ball, but could get no closer than that.

With less than two minutes remaining, Dixie still clung to a five-point lead, but the Flyers then closed out the game with a 5-0 run to win by 10.

Grant Carter added 14 points for Dixie, while Kyle Lemke scored 11.

Meanwhile, Gardner had 12 points to lead Hurricane and Owen Iloa added eight.

— written by Jeff Richards

Region 10 boys basketball standings (as of Feb. 12):
  1. Snow Canyon 9-2 (19-2).
  2. Dixie 8-3 (16-5).
  3. Crimson Cliffs 7-4 (13-7).
  4. Cedar 5-6 (10-10).
  5. Hurricane 4-7 (11-10).
  6. Pine View 3-8 (8-12).
  7. Desert Hills 3-9 (7-14).
Tuesday’s games:
  • Crimson Cliffs at Snow Canyon, 7 p.m.
  • Dixie at Pine View, 7 p.m.
  • Cedar at Hurricane, 7 p.m.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Eric George Goold came to St. George News from southwestern Colorado, where he was a radio news reporter. He has been a journalist for over 20 years in five different states. He graduated with a master's degree in English from Kansas State University and writes nonfiction as well. Goold has been published in Sunstone Magazine and has done multiple public readings about local history. When he has free time, he enjoys chess, movies and dogs.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @STGnews

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