ST. GEORGE — Jake Hawes saw Hurricane’s James Bennion light up the nets last Friday night in the Tigers’ upset win at Dixie and thought to himself. “I can do that.”

Wednesday night, the Flyers senior guard made it happen. He had 28 points — on 11 of 17 shooting — and Dixie upset previously undefeated Desert Hills 61-50 in the Thunderdome Gymnasium.

“Desert Hills is one of the best defensive teams so I knew I had to come in and hit some tough shots.” Hawes said. “Everything happens for reason and the loss to Hurricane gave us fire to come and get this one and hopefully get the next one. It felt good.”

Dixie turned the game on its ear early in the fourth quarter, embarking on a decisive 16-2 run that turned a 43-39 deficit into a 55-45 lead. Hawes started the run with a 3-pointer from the corner right at the seven-minute mark. After a Desert Hills free throw made it 44-42. Nate Crockett dropped another deep bomb for the Flyers. His trey gave Dixie the lead back at 45-44 with just over six minutes to play.

After a Mathews miss, Dixie pushed the ball up the floor and Tyler Bennett converted a shot in the lane to make it 47-44 with 5:20 left. D-Hills got a free throw from Logan Forsyth to cut it to 47-45, but Crockett struck again, hitting a trey off of an RJ Wilgar offensive rebound. That made it 50-45 and Bennett scored five more quick points to push it to 55-45 with 1:59 to play.

The Thunder made one last push. Logan Hokanson hit two free throws and Mathews buried a 3-pointer at the top of the key to cut it to 55-50 with 1:12 to play. But Bennett, who scored all 11 of his points in the fourth quarter, answered with a tough layup in the lane and two more free throws to push the lead back to nine at 59-50 with just 48.2 seconds left.

Crockett said it was fun to watch the battle between Hawes and DH star Mathews, who finished with 23 points.

“They are incredible,” Crockett said. “They’re both incredible players. They’re amazing, both of them. It was fun to watch.”

The Thunder came into the game 7-0 in region and had beaten Dixie by two points back in mid-December. It looked like this was going to be the same kind of game as it went back and forth for more than three quarters. The Flyers led by as many as eight in the first half, but DH closed to within 27-25 at intermission on 3-pointers by Tanner Leishman and Max Mills.

The Thunder won the third quarter 16-12, with Mills and Logan Hokanson hitting big treys and led 41-39 heading into the final period.

“We wanted to keep pushing it and keep the tempo and I think some shots came to us and we had our shooters in the corner,” Dixie coach Ryan Cuff said. “We spread the floor and had confidence in our shooters and they delivered.”

Hawes had 16 points in the first half, but was matched almost basket for basket by Mathews, who had 14 at the break. It was a superstar duel for sure. But Hawes got more help in the fourth quarter as the Flyers outscored DH 22-9 in the final stanza.

Dixie, which made 23 of 56 shots in the game (46 percent), was 5 of 12 from downtown and had just five turnovers in the entire contest. The Flyers improved to 14-4 overall and 6-2 in region. They face Pine View at home Friday night.

Desert Hills, which was just 19 for 55 from the floor (39 percent), was 5 of 21 from beyond the arc. The Thunder, 14-4 and 7-1, have a bye Friday and then visit Pine View next Wednesday.

Stats: Dixie_Flyers_Varsity_vs_Desert_Hills_Jan_28_2015

Pine View 59, Hurricane 46

The Panther defense, tops in Region 9, clamped down in the key second quarter to help PV cruise to the road win.

Down 14-13 heading into the second, Pine View held the Tigers to just four points in eight minutes. Meanwhile, the Panthers outside shooting was heating up. Jed Newby, Blake Ence and Garrett Bowker all hit triples in the second as Pine View outscored Hurricane 17-4 in the period and went into the locker room with a 30-18 lead.

The Tigers were never able to get the deficit under 10 the rest of the way. Shooting star James Bennion had a rough night. One game after lighting it up for 37 points, Bennion was held scoreless, missing all three of his 3-pointer attempts.

Chaz Peterson was solid for the Panthers, scoring 13 points and collecting 7 assists. Kody Wilstead manned the middle with aplomb, scoring 10 points and gathering 11 rebounds, despite battling foul difficulty all night. Bowker chipped in 11 points and hit a couple of 3-pointers.

Pine View, which shot 57 percent from the floor in the game (20-35). improved to 15-2 overall and 6-2 in region. The Panthers have two huge games coming up. Pine View is at Dixie Friday night and then hosts Desert Hills next Wednesday.

Hurricane, which got 16 points from Kaden Langston and 10 from Austen Beatty, dropped to 4-13 overall and 1-7 in region. The Tigers will likely need to win their final four games to have any chance at the postseason.

Stats: Pine View 59, Hurricane 46

Snow Canyon 58, Canyon View 50

Behind the outside shooting of Kade Potter, the Warriors started quick and never looked back.

Potter hit five 3-pointers and had 21 points in the game as Snow Canyon outscored the Falcons 17-6 in the first quarter. As they’ve done all year, the Falcons competed hard and battled back to within 40-38 at the end of the third quarter. But SC protected its home court with a solid fourth quarter.

SC was decent from the floor, making 21 of 51 shots for 41 percent. The Warriors had a total of six 3-pointers in the game. Center Justin Loveless had 10 points, while Jacob Frei contributed 9 and Brad Grisenti had 8.

Canyon View got 11 points each from Ty Hollerman and Ty Nielson, but hit just 35 percent from the floor (21-60) and 46 percent from the free throw line (6-13).

Snow Canyon improves to 7-9 overall and 3-5 in region with the win. The Warriors are at Hurricane Friday night.

The Falcons, 7-9 and 1-6, are at Cedar Friday night.

Stats: SC 58, CV 50

Friday’s games:
Canyon View at Cedar, 7 p.m.
Pine View at Dixie, 7 p.m.
Snow Canyon at Hurricane, 7 p.m.

Region 9	W	L	PS	PA	pct.	W	L	PS	PA	pct.
Desert Hills	7	1	491	407	.875	14	4	1077	912	.778
Pine View	6	2	416	361	.750	15	2	950	789	.882
Dixie	6	2	505	455	.750	14	4	1174	1024	.778
Cedar	3	4	347	384	.429	8	7	763	793	.533
Snow Canyon	3	5	474	509	.375	7	9	908	999	.438
Canyon View	1	6	382	426	.143	7	9	913	906	.438
Hurricane	1	7	407	480	.125	4	13	799	905	.235

Click on photo to enlarge it, then use your left-right arrow keys to cycle through the gallery. 

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @oldschoolag

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2015, all rights reserved.