ST. GEORGE — Jakes Hawes is known for his athleticism and shooting prowess on the offensive end of the court for the Dixie Flyers. Friday night, he flashed a little defense as the senior guard stole the ball and took it coast to coast for the game-winning layup with three seconds left to lift Dixie to a 53-51 victory over Springville.

“The coaches always say ‘Win on defense,'” Hawes said. “Usually I’m scoring, but I decided to win one on defense and it ended up me getting a game-winning bucket. They bounce-passed it and I saw it and went and got it. I thought about dunking it, but I thought about how sweaty my hands were and I didn’t want to screw that one up.”

Springville did not get off a shot in the final three seconds. losing the ball out of bounds after two timeouts. But it was still an excellent finish to a very competitive game.

Dixie had the ball with a minute left and the score tied, but turned it over to the Red Devils with 30 seconds on the clock. After a time out, Springville worked the clock down under 10 seconds, but Hawes committed his theft outside the 3-point arc before the Red Devils could even think about a go-ahead shot.

“Jake is starting to believe in his defense, knowing that he can get his offensive game going with defense,” Dixie coach Ryan Cuff said. “If he believes in himself and that he can play defense, it’s a huge boost, not only for him, but for our entire team.”

Hawes finished with 20 points, including three 3-pointers, to lead the way for Dixie. Teammate RJ Wilgar, who scored 15 himself, said that final play by Hawes was magical.

“I was on ball and trying to make it as hard for him as I could,” Wilgar said. “I saw him throw it and then I see Jake come out of nowhere and steal it and I was feeling great. When I saw the ball go through the hoop, I was just yelling. It was a great play by Jake.”

The game-winner may never have happened if Wilgar hadn’t had a big fourth quarter. Dixie entered the final period down 39-36 and it quickly went to 42-36 when Kaden Hillstead hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key.

Tyler Bennett cut it to 42-38 with 7:30 left and that’s when Wilgar went to work, hitting a jumper and a finger roll to tie the game at 42-42. Springville worked it back up to a 51-48 lead with two minutes left, but Wilgar tied it up with a 3-pointer from the left baseline that rattled home with 1:32 on the clock.

“That 3 came about from me going to basket earlier and being aggressive,” Wilgar said. “It didn’t swish, but it was shooter’s touch I guess. I’ll take it, whatever it was.”

Bennett chipped in 10 for Dixie, which improved to 4-1 with the win. Dixie plays Spanish Fork at 1:30 p.m. at Dixie High in the second day of the Ken Robinson Invitational. Springville, 2-3, battles Desert Hills at noon at The Hangar. Andrew Slack had 17 to lead the Devils.

Spanish Fork 55, Desert Hills 53

A fadeaway 3-pointer by Quincy Mathews with two seconds left was wide left and the Thunder couldn’t get off a shot in time after grabbing the loose-ball rebound as the Dons held on for the narrow win.

Hunter Schofield scored 29 points, just topping Mathews’ 28 for the game-high in a great battle on the first day of the Ken Robinson Invitational.

“Spanish Fork maybe came out more ready to play at the start of the game,” DH coach Wade Turley said. “(Schofield was amazing. He really hurt us early.”

The Dons led by as many as 12 points early in the game, but by halftime, Desert Hills had taken a 30-29 lead.

It stayed close the rest of the way, with Mathews at one point scoring 12 straight points for his team. The Dons used Schofield and Parker Bowman for the bulk of the scoring in the second half. With 1:16 to play, Bowman’s two free throws made it 54-50 for the Dons.

D-Hills worked the offense to get Marcus McKone a good look and the junior shooting guard buried a trey that made it 54-53 with 59 seconds left. After an exchange of possessions, the Thunder were forced to foul and SF’s Benson Rhees made 1 of 2 for a 55-53 lead with 15 seconds to go.

Desert Hills’ final chance came though Mathews, who caught a pass with under five seconds left and was immediately double-teamed. He fired a long fadeaway that was off the mark. A loose ball scramble ensued, but DH could not get control and get a shot off in time.

“Even though we didn’t win, I feel pretty good about the way we played tonight,” Mathews said. “That’s a great 4A team and we were right there with them. This will help prepare us for region play.”

The loss drops DH to 3-2 overall and the Thunder will play Springville at noon Saturday at Dixie High. The Dons improved to 2-3 and will battle Dixie at 1:30 p.m.

Stats: DHHS (SFHS)-121214

Pine View 63, Cortez (Ariz.) 46

The PV Panthers never trailed in the game and pulled away with a big second half to advance to Saturday’s championship game of the NGS Invitational in Page, Ariz.

Kody Wilstead had 16 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocks in his return from a one-game suspension and Pine View broke open a 31-27 halftime game with flurry of points early in the third.

Wilstead had 4 points, 2 rebounds and 2 blocks in the opening two minutes of the second half as PV began the third with an 11-2 run. Garrett Bowker, Chaz Peterson and Cody Ruesch all reached double-figures in the game.

“The kids are playing well together,” Pine View coach Darrell Larsen said. “We still have some things to work on, but are heading in the right direction.”

The Panthers won the battle on the boards 37-30 and upped their record to 6-0 by outscoring the CHS 32-19 in the second half.

Pine View will play Tuba City, the No. 1-ranked 3A team in Arizona, in the NGS championship at 3 p.m. Saturday.

Stats: PV 63, Cortez 46

Snow Canyon 64, Carbon 54

Jacob Frei and Kade Potter each poured in 18 points to help the Warriors capture their first win of the season.

Potter hit four 3-pointers and also had 7 rebounds for SC, which improved to 2-1 on the year. The Warriors also got 11 from Brad Grisenti and Snow Canyon had nine 3-pointers in the game.

The Warriors also out-rebounded the Dinos 35-16 and won every quarter in pulling away slowly for the blowout win.

Snow Canyon next plays Wednesday at Canyon View and then plays three straight games in the Coach Walker Classic Thursday through Saturday next week.

Carbon, 3-4, got 20 points from Cole Fossat.

Hurricane 51, Parowan 47

Austen Beatty knocked down 20 points for the Tigers, who improved to 2-3 with the home victory.

It took a big rally for Hurricane, which trailed 39-31 heading into the fourth quarter. But the Tigers owned the first four minutes of the fourth, going on a 9-0 run to take the lead. James Bennion hit a trey in the run and Beatty had four points as HHS took a 40-39 lead with 3:54 to go.

Hurricane took the lead for good moments later on another 3-pointer by Bennion, who finished with eight points in the game. That made it 43-41 and the Tigers stretched the lead to 47-42 on baskets by Tyson Yardley and Reagan Hinton.

Hinton had 11 points and the Tigers were able to hit enough free throws to ice the game late.

Hurricane next plays Wednesday at Pine View in a region battle at 7 p.m. Parowan falls to 2-3 with the loss.

Stats: Hurricane 51, Parowan 47

Canyon View 72, West 51

Five players had at least nine points, led by Ty Hollerman with 15, as the Falcons ran easily past the Panthers.

CV led 35-21 at the half and 57-33 after three in the blowout. Keaton Kringlen had 12, Xavier Stoker 11, Sterling Barnes 10 and Ty Nielson 9 in the balanced attack for Canyon View.

The Falcons, 2-1, host Carbon at 5 p.m. Saturday. West falls to 3-4.

Stats: CV 72, West 51

Note: No score was reported from Cedar-Juab.

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