DRAPER – The first eight minutes of Pine View’s first-round playoff game at Juan Diego were just about perfect for the visiting Panthers. The next eight minutes were just the opposite as the Soaring Eagle turned a 13-5 deficit into a 26-21 lead in the second period and never trailed again in a 47-42 victory Friday night at JDHS.
“The second quarter killed us,” Panther coach Ryan Eves said. “It started when Trey (Farrer) picked up his second foul and had to sit down. And then Kade (Moore) got his second and had to sit as well. We couldn’t score and then we started to panic a little bit.”
The rough stretch actually started about a minute into the second quarter. McKay Lambert made a 3-pointer for Pine View to put his team ahead 16-5. Eagle reserves Matt Kitzman and Brennan Fabry sparked a 9-0 Juan Diego run to make it a 16-14 game.
Jackson Wadsworth and Dylan Hendrickson stopped the bleeding momentarily for Pine View and it was 21-16 for PV with under three minutes to go in the half. But Juan Diego owned those three minutes, closing the half on another run, this time tallying 10 straight.
“The last minute or so of the quarter, we had Trey and Kade sitting and Dylan had to come out because he was tired,” Eves said. “That’s when Juan Diego made that big run. We just weren’t clicking and they had two or three steals on us in that stretch.”
The Soaring Eagle took its first lead in the last minute of the half on another trey by Kitzman and Jason Ricketts scored in the closing seconds to make it 26-21 at intermission.
“We never really made a big run in the second half,” Eves said. “We’d call a timeout and talk about the game plan and what we wanted them to do and it would work. But (Juan Diego) kept getting us out of rhythm. Their big guys got really physical with Trey and they weren’t giving our shooters open looks.”
Farrer and Hendrickson helped Pine View keep it within three midway through the third quarter at 30-27, but the Soaring Eagle put together a 10-2 run to capture the big lead of the game at 40-29. A Moore 3-pointer cut it under 10, but the fourth quarter featured a basket-for-basket trade-off, with Pine View never getting closer than four.
Lambert made his fourth 3-pointer of the game with 29 seconds left to cut it to 47-42 and JD missed a pair of front-ends on one-and-one free throws. But Lambert and Hendrickson both fired deep 3s that were well off the mark and the Soaring Eagle was able to run the clock out.
“It sucks to lose, you know that,” Eves said. “Especially when you feel like you have a team that is talented enough to be playing until the very end. I’m really proud of these seniors. It’s a great group of kids who did everything I asked of them. They’re very respectful and great teammates. We knew at the start of the year that we would probably need a home playoff game if we were going to beat a team from that region (11), cause they’re tough. It’s a tough way to end the season.”
The Panthers just couldn’t hit their shots on the road. Pine View was 13 of 41 from the floor (32 percent) and just 5-21 from deep (24 percent). Juan Diego, meanwhile, was 19-37 from the floor (51 percent), though the Soaring Eagle hit just 5-19 free throws (26 percent).
Farrer finished with 13 points and seven rebounds before fouling out. Lambert had 12 points and Hendrickson finished with 11. Pine View ends the year with a 17-6 record.
Juan Diego, 20-3, was led by Fabry’s 14 points and Kitzman chipped in 13. The Soaring Eagle play Richfield Thursday at 2:30 p.m. at Utah State University’s Spectrum Arena in the 3A quarterfinals.
Stats: Box Scores for Pine View Male Juan Diego Catholic Male
3A STATE BOYS BASKETBALL FIRST ROUND
UPPER BRACKET
Desert Hills 49, Bear River 41
Stansbury 44, North Sanpete 43
Ridgeline 72, Hurricane 59
Carbon 54, Tooele 46
LOWER BRACKET
Dixie 55, Logan 53
Canyon View 71, Union 47
Richfield 53, Grantsville 41
Juan Diego 47, Pine View 42
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