Boys basketball: SC suffers letdown at home; Panthers win big

Written by Andy Griffin
December 7, 2016
Snow Canyon's Christian Sullivan (1), Snow Canyon vs. Richfield, Boys Basketball, St. George, Utah, Dec. 7, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

ST. GEORGE – Snow Canyon played well on the road last weekend, but couldn’t carry that over in a home loss to Richfield Wednesday night. Meanwhile, Pine View won its third straight game to start the season in a blowout at Enterprise Wednesday and now heads to a three-day tournament in Page, Ariz.

Southern Utah schools have done well so far this preseason, with Region 9 compiling a 17-4 record so far. Here’s a look at Wednesday’s games:

Richfield 47, Snow Canyon 36

Poor shooting and a rash of turnovers hurt the Warriors in their second straight loss after starting the year 3-0.

snow-canyon-logo“We were riding high after a good road trip to Bear River, but unfortunately we had a big letdown,” Snow Canyon coach Jamison Sorenson said. “We didn’t feel bad about Saturday’s loss to Bear River because we played pretty well and just lost to a great Bear River team. But tonight’s loss stings because we played poorly against a good Richfield team.”

Snow Canyon's Kameron Webster (5), Snow Canyon vs. Richfield, Boys Basketball, St. George, Utah, Dec. 7, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Snow Canyon’s Kameron Webster (5), Snow Canyon vs. Richfield, Boys Basketball, St. George, Utah, Dec. 7, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

Snow Canyon had 18 turnovers and the Warriors’ bread-and-butter, the 3-point shot, was off. SC hit just two deep balls the entire game. The giveaways and bad shooting led to a second quarter in which the Warriors scored just three points and first half in which SC had just 10 total points.

Richfield led 26-10 at the half. Snow Canyon actually outscored the Wildcats 26-21 after intermission.

Snow Canyon, 3-2, did get 10 points out of sophomore post Joey Robertson. Junior Braden Baker was held to his lowest point total of the year as he had 13, but he also had five steals in the game.

“I know it’s a cliche, but you really do learn a lot more from a loss than a win,” Sorenson said. “We’ll learn a lot from this. And it’s good that we have a game tomorrow so we can get right back at it. There’s no time to mope or be mad or sad. We’ve got to get ready.”

The Warriors host Canyon View at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Jungle gymnasium.

Richfield, 3-2, made 9 of 20 3-pointers in the game, with Emmitt Hafen leading the Wildcats with 12 points on four treys.

Pine View 78, Enterprise 48

When the going got tough for Pine View, the Panthers turned to senior center Trey Farrer.

pine-view-logoThe big guy scored 24 points, including the first eight points of the third quarter, and Pine View blew open a close game with a huge second half. Farrer, who also had 10 rebounds, two assists and two blocks, is averaging 21 points a game, a big step up from his eight points a game last season.

“It was actually a quiet 24, if there is such a thing,” PV coach Ryan Eves said. “He just went in there and went to work and did his thing. We did a better job of getting him the ball in the third quarter.”

Trey Farrer
Trey Farrer

McKay Lambert was a good complement to Farrer’s inside game. The senior sharpshooter made five 3-pointers. Kade Moore hit three deep balls as well and Dylan Hendrickson and Tayler Tobler had two each as Pine View made 12 as a team.

“Enterpise is a scrappy team and they rebound the ball hard,” Eves said. “We did a much better job of rebounding and then hitting open shots in the second half.”

Pine View held a 33-28 advantage at intermission, but quickly blew the game open early in the third behind Farrer and Lambert. The Panthers outscored Enterprise 19-7 in the third and 26-13 in the fourth.

Pine View, 3-0, embarks on a three-day road trip Thursday morning. The Panthers are making their annual visit to Page, Ariz., for the NGC Tournament. Pine View plays Tuba City, Ariz., in Thursday’s first round with tip time at 5 p.m. If PV wins, it would play a second-round game at 8 p.m. Friday and a Thursday loss would give PV a 5 p.m. Friday game.

Stats: box-scores-for-pine-view-male-%40-enterprise-male

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @oldschoolag

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2016, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andy Griffin has been in sports media since 1989 and has covered BYU, Utah State and the Utah Jazz as well as all sports in southern Utah. A journalism graduate of USU, Andy has carried on a dual career as both a sports writer and a sports broadcaster and has been heard around the country. He has also been published in USA Today, Sport magazine, The Sporting News, Fairways magazine, the Los Angeles Times and locally in the Deseret News, the Salt Lake Tribune and the Spectrum. Andy was “The Voice of Region 9 sports,” for many years. He also hosted a daily sports talk show for three years called AG in the a.m. Andy has been married to his college sweetheart Shelly for 28 years and has five children ages 13 to 25.

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