COMMENTARY – At this time last week, the Cedar Redmen were undefeated and in first place in Region 9 and ranked No. 1 in the state by several publications. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Cedar lost at home Wednesday to Desert Hills, a team they had beaten by 13 before Christmas, then shockingly dropped a 12-point decision to Canyon View, which had just one region win going into the contest.

The good news for Cedar is this: The Redmen are still just a half-game out of first place and have home games against Dixie and first-place Snow Canyon coming up.

The bad news: The trend of falling behind early in games cost them against DH and CV. Cedar did make a comeback against the Thunder, but then still lost. The comeback never happened against Canyon View. Perhaps some of that mojo that carried them to early-season wins is gone.

Whatever happens the rest of the way, the Redmen still have an excellent basketball team that will be a force come playoff time.

Of course, the rest of the region has to be tickled with the downfall of Cedar. Snow Canyon played just one game last week, but picked up a game and a half over Cedar and the Warriors now own first place all alone. Snow Canyon plays at Pine View Wednesday before a Friday date at home vs. Hurricane.

Desert Hills, which played for the 3A Championship a year ago, is now tied for second with Cedar, just a footstep behind Snow Canyon. The Thunder host Hurricane Wednesday before playing at Pine View Friday.

Dixie remains just ahead of Pine View in the race for the fourth and final playoff spot. The Flyers were 1-1 last week and play at suddenly-vulnerable Cedar Wednesday. Dixie hosts Canyon View Friday and I’m sure the Falcons are thinking playoffs as well after their win over Cedar.

Pine View has hit a critical week if it wants to get into the playoffs as the Panthers play at home against Snow Canyon Wednesday, then at home against Desert Hills Friday.

The Falcons might be that team no one wants to play these last couple of weeks of the season. They live and die by the 3-pointer and that makes them oh so dangerous.

Statewide, Morgan (16-2, 9-0) and Spanish Fork (13-3, 6-0) are dominating their respective regions. My top five right now: 1. Morgan; 2. Spanish Fork; 3. Snow Canyon; 4. Desert Hills; 5. Judge Memorial.

Region 9 Boys Basketball Standings

1. Snow Canyon 6-1
2. Desert Hills 6-2
3. Cedar 6-2
4. Dixie 4-4
5. Pine View 3-4
6. Canyon View 2-6
7. Hurricane 0-8

On the girls side, Snow Canyon continues to play well behind BYU-commit Amy Harris. She is having an MVP-like season, averaging 17 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals a game. And most importantly, she has led her Lady Warriors to a 13-4 overall record and a 7-1 region record. Grace Walton has been a nice sidekick to Harris, averaging 10 points, five rebounds and three assists herself. Megan Leavitt is their big post presence at nine points and seven rebounds a game.

Right on their heels are two teams, Desert Hills and Cedar. The Thunder were the popular pick in preseason to win the region, but fell out of a first-place tie with a loss to Cedar Thursday. The Lady Thunder feature the killer inside-out combo of Haley Bodnar and Blair Bliss, both of whom are averaging nearly 14 points a game.

If you can go to just one girls basketball game all year, Thursday’s Snow Canyon at Desert Hills game will be the one to watch.

But with Cedar in the mix, it is not necessarily for the region title. Snow Canyon still has to travel to Cedar the last day of the regular season (Feb. 13).

Region 9 Girls Basketball Standings

1. Snow Canyon 7-1
2. Desert Hills 6-2
3. Cedar 6-2
4. Dixie 5-3
5. Canyon View 2-6
6. Hurricane 1-6
7. Pine View 0-7

Congratulations to the Desert Hills wrestling team for winning the Region 9 title. Also, Hurricane’s Zach Prince is favored to win his fourth state wrestling title. Prince, who is a senior, has won three titles and will try and become one of just a couple dozen wrestler to win four titles in Utah state history.

The state wrestling tournament is Feb. 15-16 at Utah Valley University.

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Andy Griffin is a sports commentator. The opinions stated in this article are his and not representative of St. George News.

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Twitter: @oldschoolag

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