Even with a blizzard, it was good to be the road team Wednesday

Snow Canyon vs. Pine View, Boys Basketball, St. George, UT, Dec. 20, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

There was an epic blizzard in southern Utah Wednesday night, but three road teams handled the snow just fine. Hurricane and Desert Hills survived heavy snow in their road wins in Iron County, while Pine View handled Snow Canyon in the Panthers victory.

With the larger region and more games to be played, teams from Region 9 had to sneak one league game in before the Christmas break. Wednesday night was the region-opener and all three traveling teams came away with victories.

At Canyon View, it was star vs. star as Jackson Last outdueled Brantzen Blackner in a game featuring two of the region’s top scorers. At Cedar, preseason favorite Desert Hills showed why with smothering defense against the Redmen. At Snow Canyon, the undersized Panthers also used defense, and a sharp shooting night at the line, to capture the win. Here’s a recap:

Pine View 69, Snow Canyon 47

Dallin Brown had a career-high 24 points and hardly missed a shot in a game that Pine View started slowly, but took over quickly. Brown made 8 of 10 field goals and 8 of 9 free throws for his 24-point night.

“Dallin Brown just dominated,” Pine View head coach Ryan Eves said. “He was aggressive, attacked the basket and and had an incredible stat line. I think that’s the best I’ve seen him play.”

Pine View’s Michael Moten (10), Snow Canyon vs. Pine View, Boys Basketball, St. George, UT, Dec. 20, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

The game actually started poorly for the Panthers. Snow Canyon’s Braden Baker was red hot and scored 10 first quarter points in leading the Warriors to a 16-6 lead after eight minutes of play.

“Apparently that’s our mantra, to start slow and then come on strong and turn it on in the second and third quarters,” Eves said. “But we finally got up on them and played some defense and we started taking better shots.”

Indeed, the game took a huge turn in the second quarter. Pine View outscored SC 24-10 in the second and had a 30-26 lead at intermission.

“It was all about our defense in the second and third quarters,” Eves said. “We forced a lot of turnovers and made them take tough shots.”

With the full-court press on full display, the Panthers then outscored the Warriors 16-6 in the third, ending up with a 46-32 lead heading into the final period. Free throw shooting then put the game away for the Panthers, who improved to 1-0 in region and 5-5 overall with the road win.

Pine View made 24 of 33 free throws (72 percent) and also hit 21 of 39 from the floor. Tayler Tobler chipped in 16 points and Jack O’Donnell added 14. Brown led PV in rebounding with six. Eves also praised the defense of Connor Brooksby, who had the tough task of guarding Snow Canyon center Joey Robertson.

Baker led Snow Canyon with 19 points. Robertson had 10 as the Warriors fell to 4-7 overall and 0-1 in region play.

Pine View, 5-5, is now off until Jan. 5 when the Panthers will host Dixie. Snow Canyon is also off until Jan. 5 when the Warriors will play at Desert Hills.

Hurricane 68, Canyon View 59

This was a barnburner, even though the final score doesn’t indicate it. In fact, Hurricane saved its road victory with impressive free throw shooting and two monumental rebounds late in the game.

The Tigers were ahead by a 60-56 count with just over a minute left when the ball went to the floor and a scrum ensued. Somehow, before the officials could call a held ball or either coach could get a timeout, the Falcons wrenched the ball away and kicked it in the corner to Joey Lambeth. The senior guard calmly nailed a 3-pointer and pulled the Falcons within 60-59 with 1:06 showing on the clock.

With heavy pressure on the ball, the Tigers were able to get it ahead to Xayden Jackman. But the 6-foot-8 Jackman missed a shot in the lane. Enter Reagan Marshall, who has been injured much of the preseason. The senior ripped the rebound away and was fouled.

File photo, Hurricane’s Reagan Marshall (15), Hurricane vs. Manti, Boys Basketball, St. George, Utah, Dec. 15, 2016, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

He missed the front end of a 1-and-1, but Jackson Last secured another offensive board and quickly got it back to Marshall. This time, the senior forward didn’t miss. His free throws made it 62-59 with 42.2 seconds left.

After a missed 3 by CV, Marshall again ended up at the line and again he made both shots, making it 64-59 with 25 seconds left. The Tigers made four more charity shots to round out the scoring and leave snowy Cedar City with a win.

“I’ve been telling the guys that wins and losses in region were going to come down to free throws,” Hurricane coach Todd Langston said. “We were 15 for 17 from the line. If we had not shot like that, we would not have won that game.”

Hurricane dominated inside with Jackman, Last and Marshall owning the paint. The Tigers had more offensive rebounds (11) than the Falcons had total rebounds (9).

“We finally took advantage of our size,” Langston said. “We shot 65 percent or something like that inside the 3-point line. Canyon View’s an excellent team and they were on fire from 3. But they just weren’t big enough to defend us inside.”

Last came out on top in the stat battle between the region’s top two scorers. Last had 27 points, while Blackner was held to 11 points on three made field goals and three made free throws.

“I thought we did a great job on Blackner defensively,” Langston said. “But they had other guys step up. Canyon View is an excellent team and we feel fortunate to get out of there with a win.”

It was a team effort for the Tigers, even with Last’s 27 points and seven rebounds. Reagan Marshall had a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds and Jackman and Adam Heyrend had 10 points each.

Lambeth and Toby Potter led Canyon View with 14 points each. The Falcons stroked an impressive 12 of 26 3-pointers in the game (46 percent).

Hurricane, 3-3 overall and 1-0 in region, participates in the Tri-State Holiday Classic in Las Vegas Dec. 27-29 in its next action. Canyon View will act as one of the hosts for the Steve Hodson Cancer Classic and will play Carbon at CVHS Dec. 28 at 8:30 p.m.

Desert Hills 63, Cedar 45

There were two pivotal moments in the Thunder’s big win Wednesday night. The first came in the second quarter, when D-Hills converted on a seven-point play. Yep, a seven-point play.

With Desert Hills ahead 17-12, Thunder guard Carson Thornton snagged an offensive rebound and was fouled trying to put it back in. The call prompted a technical foul call on Cedar coach Russ Beck. Thornton made all four free throws, then Trevin Lindstrom buried a 3-pointer from the corner and all of the sudden it was a 24-12 game.

File photo, Desert Hills’ Tyler Webber (2), Desert Hills vs. Salem Hills, Boys Basketball, St. George, UT, Dec. 9, 2017, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News

Tyler Webber then buried a trey at the first-half buzzer to make it 32-17 at the half. Webber opened the second half with another 3-pointer as D-Hills scored 10 out of the first 11 points in the third quarter and the lead grew to 42-18. The rest of the game was for stats and posterity as the Thunder were never challenged after that.

Webber had just three points in the first half, but scored 16 after intermission and ended up leading all scorers with 19 points. Lindstrom added 13 and center Ryan Marz had 12 as the Thunder shirked off back-to-back blowout losses to come away with the lopsided win. Lindstrom made 5 of 6 from deep and the Thunder were 9 for 21 as a team from 3.

The only thing scarier than the blizzard outside was Cedar’s shooting percentage inside. The Redmen made just 15 of 42 shots from the floor (35 percent), including 5 of 18 from 3. Dallin Peterson led Cedar with 13 points and Treyton Tibbs added 10.

Desert Hills, which outscored Cedar 22-9 in the second quarter, improves to 5-2 overall and 1-0 in region. The Thunder will play in the Utah Autism Holiday Classic Dec. 27-29 before taking a few days off for the New Year’s.

Cedar, 4-4, will have two games on its home floor Dec. 28 – 2:30 p.m. vs. Panguitch and 8:30 p.m. vs. Ogden – as part of the Steve Hodson Cancer Classic.

Region 9 Standings
Desert Hills  5-2, 1-0
Pine View 5-5, 1-0
Hurricane 3-3, 1-0
Dixie  6-0, 0-0
Cedar  4-4, 0-1
Snow Canyon  4-7, 0-1
Canyon View  2-7, 0-1

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @oldschoolag

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2017, all rights reserved.

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