‘Pressure makes diamonds’: Cedar takes 4A state championship

Written by Rich Allen
March 3, 2021

ST. GEORGE — The Cedar Reds are the state champions of 4A basketball in Utah.

Cedar basketball vs. Desert Hills, 4A state basketball championship game, Sevier Valley Center, Richfield, Utah, March 3, 2021 | Photo by Rich Allen, St. George News / Cedar City News

The Reds hoisted the trophy through tears, smiles and fist pumps after toppling the Desert Hills Thunder 64-59. A special group that has played together for a decade climbed the mountain in their senior year in what will likely be its last together. Treyton Tebbs, Dallin Grant, Luke Armstrong, Gaige Savage, Jaron Garrett and Jacob Rogers all graduate after this season.

“We’ve been dreaming of this since second grade and it finally happened,” senior Gaige Savage said. “It’s so crazy. We’ve had so many ups and downs and we finally came together and did it. I love all of them.”

The Reds didn’t trail in the final three quarters.

Desert Hills took the game’s first points on a Reggie Newby 3-pointer and a pair of free throws. It would set up Desert Hills’ only lead of the game before Cedar went on an 11-0 run to end the frame. Ty Harrison hit a driving toss up and immediately blocked a Newby shot attempt on the other side of the court to close the frame.

It was not Harrison’s first big play in the playoffs, as he hit the put-back in the final seconds of the quarterfinal for the game-winning bucket over Crimson Cliffs. In the semifinals, he took a late foul against Ridgeline and landed a pair of free throws to ice that victory.

Cedar basketball vs. Desert Hills, 4A state basketball championship game, Sevier Valley Center, Richfield, Utah, March 3, 2021 | Photo by Rich Allen, St. George News / Cedar City News

In the finals, Harrison scored eight points off the bench.

“Ty stepped up this tournament,” Savage said. “I mean Ty’s always been there, he just doesn’t get the recognition he deserves.”

The Thunder pulled within two points at one point in the second quarter but trailed 23-17 at the half.

Mason Landdeck, a move-in that put up 50 points on Cedar on Jan. 22, sat out the first half. He was back on the court for the second half.

“That’s family matters,” Desert Hills head coach Chris Allred said. “We take care of things internally and that’s just family business.”

Both teams shot cold, with Cedar going 36% from the field and Desert Hills going 5-for-25. Zab Santana and Treyton Tebbs each scored seven for Cedar and Peyton Holmes and Preston Vandermyde also reached the mark for Desert Hills in the first 16 minutes.

The teams traded blows in the third quarter. Zab Santana started hot with a trio from the perimeter. The Thunder fought back and would outscore the Reds by one in the frame and close the gap to 40-35.

Cedar streaked again to start the fourth, taking 10 of the first 14 points of the quarter. From there, Desert Hills battled back to make it a two-possession game.

Cedar basketball vs. Desert Hills, 4A state basketball championship game, Sevier Valley Center, Richfield, Utah, March 3, 2021 | Photo by Rich Allen, St. George News / Cedar City News

It was one of the group’s last lessons that took them over the top.

In the last game of the regular season, the Reds let the Thunder back in the game in a regular season game contest. Cedar went 17-24 on second-half free throws and landed 14 of their last 18 and 16 of 22 in the fourth quarter. The points helped the Reds fend off a ferocious Thunder comeback attempt, and made a difference in the final five-point spread.

“Pressure makes diamonds,” Savage said.

Landdeck air-balled with less than 10 seconds on the clock, Cedar retained and drew a foul to seal the game.

Zab Santana, the one move-in for Cedar, led the game with 19 points. Landdeck tied Santana with 19 points.

All five other scorers for Cedar had at least eight in a true team effort. Armstrong was on double-double watch with eight points and nine rebounds. Savage scored nine and had seven boards. Grant scored eight and had eight off the glass.

Cedar basketball vs. Desert Hills, 4A state basketball championship game, Sevier Valley Center, Richfield, Utah, March 3, 2021 | Photo by Rich Allen, St. George News / Cedar City News

Cedar came together late in the season after losing seven of eight top players to COVID-19 for temporary periods over the season. Cedar head coach Mark Esplin said the finals would be only the ninth time the whole group played together. Not that they weren’t familiar with each other already.

“This is a very special group,” Esplin said. “This is so special and so rare.”

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2021, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rich joined St. George News in October 2020. The Colorado native graduated from Metropolitan State University of Denver in December 2018, where he was a sports and managing editor at the student publication, The Metropolitan. He worked as a media relations assistant for the minor league baseball club New Orleans Baby Cakes in 2019.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @RAllenSTGNews@STGnews

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