Region 9 boys recap: Pine View hands Dixie first region loss, Cedar sweeps the week, 5 teams go 1-1

ST. GEORGE — The biggest news of the week was Pine View’s win over Dixie, handing the Flyers their first loss of the region season. Crimson Cliffs bounced back from a tough loss to Hurricane and beat Desert Hills in overtime and Cedar got a big road overtime win over Pine View.

After the week, Pine View and Desert Hills are tied for third place, Cedar is in sole possession of second place and Dixie remains in first pace.

Tuesday’s games 

Cedar 73, Pine View 69 (OT)

At the Pit, Cedar was able to pull out a big overtime road win over the Panthers, 73-69. Read the full story about the game here.

Desert Hills 78, Canyon View 43

Canyon View at Desert Hills, Cedar City, Utah, Feb. 4, 2020 | Photo by Dave Larson, St. George News / Cedar City News

Canyon View traveled to Desert Hills on Tuesday to take on the Thunder. Desert Hills used a big second half offensive outburst to extend their lead and get the 78-43 victory.

It was a very balanced scoring attack for the Thunder, who had 10 players register points on the night. Mason Chase led the Thunder with 12 points. For Canyon View, Trevor Farrow had 15 points.

Dixie 59, Snow Canyon 50

The Flyers beat Snow Canyon at home by eight when the two teams played in the first half of region play, this time the Flyers would win by nine on the road. The game was tied at halftime, but the Flyers pulled away in the second half to get the win.

Isaac Finlinson had a big 20-point game for the Flyers, and Ethan Bennett added 18 points. Cole Warner led the Warriors with 10 points.

Hurricane 78, Crimson Cliffs 59

When both of these teams met the first time, the Mustangs were able to get an overtime win at home. Their second game looked much different. The Tigers took an 18-point lead at halftime, and that would be the final margin of victory as the Tigers won at home, 78-59.

Dax Dayley led all scorers with 20 points, while Bryce Thomas scored 14 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Hudson Hawes had 10 points for the Mustangs in the loss.

Thursday’s games

Pine View 69, Dixie 48

The last time Dixie and Pine View played, the Panthers were up by seven in overtime with a minute and a half left, but the Flyers found a way to grind out a win at home. For their second meeting, the Flyers traveled to Pine View on the Panthers’ senior night. The energy was high from the jump, and it stayed high for the entire game.

Dixie at Pine View, St. George, Utah, Feb. 6, 2020 | Photo by Ryne Williams, St. George News / Cedar City News

Pine View went into halftime up two, but the second half is where they extended their lead. The Panthers outscored Dixie by 19 on their way to a 21-point victory against the only region team still undefeated.

“They played well,” Dixie head coach Tyler Roberts said. “They shot, I’m sure, a high percentage, and not having Jordan (Matthews) is a big part of our team. He’s our Swiss army knife that does everything. It hurt not having him but credit Pine View. They played really well tonight, and they deserved to win.”

Matthews injured his knee in the Snow Canyon game on Tuesday and did not play against Pine View.

For the Panthers, they came out of the gates rolling. They played a complete 40-minute game, and that is the big reason why they got the win.

“We brought it from tip-off,” Panthers head coach Ryan Eves said. “I challenged our guys, ‘We’ve got to go all out all game.’ We do for most of the time – we’ve been in every single game in region. Finally they said, ‘We’re going to be tough tonight,’ and they were. They were unbelievably tough.”

Ryan Hopper tied his season high in scoring with 17 points on his senior night and had one of his better offensive performances on the region season. For the Flyers, Isaac Finlinson had 10 points but struggled most of the night.

“It’s crazy; it’s so many emotions,” Hopper said after the game. “That’s probably the biggest student section I’ve seen in my three years of playing varsity basketball. I’m speechless really.”

It’s not often that a team goes undefeated in region play, but the Flyers did it in the 2017-18 season. The Flyers were the first team to go undefeated in region play since Hurricane did it in the 2008-09 season.

Dixie at Pine View, St. George, Utah, Feb. 6, 2020 | Photo by Ryne Williams, St. George News / Cedar City News

“This is exactly what we need right now,” Roberts said. “A little bit of ‘stay humble, continue to compete and get better everyday.'”

With the Hurricane loss, this win was big for the Panthers. They jumped up to No. 5 in the RPI rankings and are in a good spot to get a first round bye in the state playoffs.

While the team was celebrating, Eves reminded them that they still have to play at Canyon View and Hurricane next week. They don’t have an easy road ahead of them.

“Not only with the RPI but just confidence,” Eves said of the importance of the win. “We’ve said it all along, we match up pretty well with them. I have no other explanation. We can go out and beat them by 20 and lose to Cedar at home.”

Dixie hosts Hurricane on Tuesday, and then they are at Desert Hills for the Thunder’s senior night on Thursday.

Cedar City 69, Canyon View 52

At Cedar City High School, the Reds hosted cross-town rival Canyon View in front of a packed gymnasium. Cedar jumped out to a 9-1 lead in the first two minutes and managed to hold Canyon View to just two field goals in the first quarter. The Reds were up 15-6 after the first period and expanded that lead to 34-15 at the half.

During the second half, Canyon View’s outside shooting picked up a bit, as the Falcons were able to trim the deficit to 13 points a couple of times. However, Cedar eventually pulled away for a 17-point victory, 69-52.

Canyon View at Cedar, Cedar City, Utah, Feb. 6, 2020 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

Guard Gaige Savage led the Reds’ balanced scoring attack with 17 points, including four treys. Dallin Grant and Zab Santana each contributed 14 points, and Treyton Tebbs added 13. Canyon View’s Farrow brothers combined for more than half of the team’s points, with senior Trevor Farrow scoring 17 points, including five 3-pointers, and his younger brother Cole adding 14 points, including four shots from long range. Cody Spencer added 11 for the Falcons.

Cedar head coach Mark Esplin said although he was happy to get the win, the Reds let up on defense in the second half.

“We play really hard defensively, and we’ve been able to get leads because of what we’ve done defensively, which transitions to our offense,” Esplin said, noting that the Reds’ lapses in the second half enabled the Falcons to pull within striking distance. “If we quit playing defense, quit playing through the post and going inside out, we start just trying to do things that are not going to allow us to extend leads to get out where we feel comfortable.”

“But it’s still a win,” Esplin added. “Looking at the rest of the region right now, we’re the only favorite team to win tonight.”

With the victory, Cedar improved its Region 9 record to 8-4, keeping them in second place in the standings, just one game ahead of both Pine View and Desert Hills. Two games remain on the schedule, the next one being at home Tuesday against Crimson Cliffs. Meanwhile, the Falcons, who fell to 1-11 in region play, host Pine View on Tuesday.

— written by Jeff Richards

Snow Canyon 43, Hurricane 42

Snow Canyon has been a team that stays with the best in the region – they just haven’t been able to get over that hump at times. They did beat Pine View in the first half and stuck with Dixie in both games, but against Hurricane they were able to pull out a big home win, 43-42.

In their first game of region play, the Tigers were able to get the home win by only four points.

Despite an eight-point deficit at halftime, the Tigers bounced back in the second and made a run at the win. Unfortunately it was not enough. Dax Dayley had 18 for the Tigers, and Bryce Thomas added 10.

For the Warriors Cole Warner had 11 points while Isaac Lyon and Walker Morrison added nine points each.

Crimson Cliffs 65, Desert Hills 59 (OT)

Desert Hills at Crimson Cliffs, Cedar City, Utah, Feb. 6, 2020 | Photo by Dave Larson, St. George News / Cedar City News

In a back and forth game that went into overtime, Crimson Cliffs was able to get the home win over Desert Hills 65-59.

The Mustangs had a one-point lead at halftime, but the two were tied at the end of regulation. Crimson Cliffs scored 12 points in the overtime period to get the win over the Thunder at home.

The Mustangs held the Thunder to just 37% from the field on the night, while Crimson went 7-17 from beyond the arc. It has been shown all season that when Crimson is hitting shots, they are a tough team to beat.

Trei Rockhill had 18 points on four 3-pointers made, while Jaxson Schneider had 13 and Jacob Nielsen had 11 points for the Mustangs. For Desert Hills, Peyton Holmes and Mason Chase had 24 and 22 points respectively.

Region 9 boys basketball standings (as of Feb. 7)

  1. Dixie 11-1 (17-3)
  2. Cedar City 8-4 (14-6)
  3. Pine View 7-5 (11-8)
  4. Desert Hills 7-5 (10-10)
  5. Crimson Cliffs 6-6 (9-10)
  6. Hurricane 5-7 (12-8)
  7. Snow Canyon 3-9 (7-14)
  8. Canyon View 1-11 (5-16)

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

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