ST. GEORGE – Brandon Simister matched his career high with 21 points and led the Desert Hills Thunder to a 52-49 comeback win over the Snow Canyon Warriors Wednesday night. Simister made four three pointers in the first half to lead the Thunder who trailed by nine points midway through the third quarter.
The Warriors were led man Ben Gottfredson who scored 15 points and got the two Thunder big players into foul trouble. Guards Brayden Linde and Chandler Gines chipped in 11 and 10 points respectively.
Most were excited to see the head to head matchup between Tyler Ott and Gines. Many media outlets have tabbed Gines as the next Ott, so to see them go at it and have the coaches let them guard each other was giving the people what they wanted to see. Gines did a great job defending the Thunder’s leading scorer who only made two baskets the whole game finishing with six points. Gines also had four steals all of them on the Division One-bound Ott. The most exciting steal came at the end of the first half when Ott wanted to hold for one shot with the clock winding down, but Gines hit the ball out of his hands and raced down the floor and was fouled on a layup attempt.
When asked about the great job he did on Ott, Gines said, “It was a total team defense and I cant take all of the credit because Brayden held him some of the game too.”
To go along with Simisters big scoring night, he also grabbed six rebounds. Josh Anderson added eight points and six rebounds even though he only played limited minuets because of foul trouble. Mike Needham and Jace Wade each added five points. The Thunder shot 10-11 from the free throw line to help finish off the Warriors including Wade’s two in the final seconds.
The No. 1 ranked Thunder improves to 12-1 on the season and 4-0 in Region play. The Thunder will head to Hurricane to play the Tigers Friday at 7 p.m.
The Warriors drop their first Region game of the year and are now 2-1 in Region play and 7-4 overall. The Warriors go to Dixie High School to play the Dixie Flyers who are on a three game winning streak and are now tied with the Warriors for second place in Region 9. The game is set to tip at 7 p.m.
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