OGDEN – The semifinalists at the Boys 3A State Tournament have been determined and Region 9’s last hope is the Snow Canyon Warriors.
SC won early in the day, a 67-66 overtime nailbiter over Ben Lomond. Since then, three more teams have thrown their hats in the ring, with Bear River knocking off Judge Memorial 66-61, Wasatch beating Spanish Fork 46-36 and Morgan knocking out Cedar 69-57.
The semifinal games will be Friday night here at the Dee Events Center. Snow Canyon will play Bear River at 7:30 p.m. And Wasatch and Morgan will square off at 9:10 p.m.
For the Redmen, a third-quarter run seemed to take everything they had left in the tank. Down 41-32 early in the second half, Dustin Staggs and Mike Hourigan led a 13-4 run that made it a tie game at 45-45 with 3:38 to go in the third quarter.
Hourigan had three baskets in the run and Staggs completed a three-point play for the tying points. Unfortunately for Cedar, the run seemed to fire up the Trojans, who turned around and scored 10 straight points of their own.
“We just kind of got mad and said to stop being lazy on defense,” Morgan star Jake Miles said. “It’s not like we stopped playing offense. We were just letting them score.”
The 10-0 run set the tone for the rest of the game as thr top-ranked Morgan squad never did let it get close again.
Cedar drops to the consolation bracket and will play Spanish Fork at 5:50 p.m. Friday.
Judge and Spanish Fork were both one-seeds, with the Bulldogs falling to the third-seeded Bears. The game was close throughout, with Bear River hitting a good stretch of free throws to hold on in the end. The Bears are coach by former Dixie State College center Casey Winters.
Spanish Fork must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed as the Dons couldn’t buy a bucket, shooting just 18 percent in the game. It was their lowest point total of the season.
The boys semifinals at the Dee Events Center:
Snow Canyon (15-6) vs. Bear River (17-7), 7:30 p.m.
Wasatch (11-13) vs. Morgan (20-2), 9:10 p.m.
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