ST. GEORGE – The 3-point shot is a funny thing. Hence the notion of teams literally living and dying by the three.
Tonight at Burns Arena, the Dixie Flyers became the latest victim of the trey in a 63-48 loss to Timpview in their first game of the Red Rock Rumble. It wasn’t a typical case of the 3-point woes, though. The Flyers didn’t shoot themselves in the foot from behind the arc. The Thunderbirds took care of that part.
Timpview set up camp behind the 3-point line early and often as it cruised to victory. And T-Birds coach Perry Wildeboar wasn’t the least bit surprised.
“I have nine guys who have hit threes this year,” Wildeboar said. “Anyone that goes in the game for us shoots the three, so it isn’t surprising.”
Senior Leo Roese led the Timpview attack and finished with 26 points, including five 3-pointers. Roese was repeatedly left open in the first half and he made the Flyers pay.
“At halftime we tried to make some adjustments to make sure we got out on him,” Flyers coach Ryan Cuff said. “He’s a good player. They find him really well.”
The Flyers opened the game with some solid shooting of their own and, behind nine first-quarter points from Kyle Hansen, held a five-point lead at 17-12 in the second quarter. But they didn’t hold it for long. Timpview poured in 20 points in seven minutes and regained the lead heading into the locker room.
However, the game was far from over. The Flyers trailed by only three points at halftime to one of the best teams in the state. All the Flyers needed to do was put the ball in the basket and tighten up a little on defense. Unfortunately, it was a little easier said than done. Dixie failed to score on consecutive possessions to open the second half and were unable to hold off the T-Birds long enough to rediscover their shooting touch. The poor start to the half led to a dismal effort of only five points in the third quarter.
“They switched to a couple different zones on us, but it was all us,” Hansen said. “We weren’t executing like we did. We didn’t see the floor.”
Jordan Hall led the Flyers with 10 points and was the only Dixie player in double figures. Kyler Smith finished with eight points and Blake Barney added seven points.
After the game, Smith said a lack of teamwork was the cause for the Flyers’ second-half demise.
“We weren’t playing as a team,” Smith said. “We weren’t attacking the basket like we were in the first half. We kind of fell apart.”
The Flyers fall to 3-5 on the season and will take on American Fork Friday at 1:30 p.m.
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