ST. GEORGE — The Dixie Flyers came up just short at state for the second year in a row.
Dixie held a one-point lead over Sky View going into the fourth quarter of Saturday night’s 4A boys state championship basketball game in Logan, but the No. 1 Bobcats held the No. 2 Flyers to just two points in the final frame and won, 52-44.
Sky View shot a scorching 55% from the field against Dixie, including a staggering 9-for-18 from beyond the 3-point arc.
“They shot it extremely well,” Dixie coach Tyler Roberts told St. George News via telephone after the game.
“Anytime a good team like that shoots the ball well, it makes it difficult,” Roberts added. “That’s basketball. Sometimes the 3’s go down and sometimes they don’t. They went in for Sky View tonight.”
Both teams played at a slow tempo, deliberately walking the ball up the court on each possession and running half-court offenses against zone defenses.
That had a limiting effect on Dixie as the Flyers could not get their high-octane transition offense going against the Bobcats.
“I think both teams knew it would come down to that,” Roberts said. “They did a good job of not allowing Kyle (Lemke) to get touches, but our guys came to play and they battled. I’m real proud of the effort from every single one of our guys.”
Dixie flew out to a 12-10 lead after the first quarter, but Sky View made adjustments and exploded for 18 points in the second quarter.
Carter Davis sank four 3-pointers in the first half for Sky View and Region 11’s Bobcats led 28-23 at halftime.
Breckon Robinson canned three of his total four 3-pointers in the third quarter and Dixie came roaring back.
Rarely used Laker Ward came off the bench and splashed a critical late 3-pointer and Dixie reclaimed the lead, 42-41, going into the final quarter of play.
But then Sky View’s zone defense gave Dixie fits. Long possessions with several passes led to shot clock violations and missed shots as the Flyers could not find a rhythm on offense.
John Southwick sank Dixie’s only field goal in the final quarter at the 3:40 mark. Before that, Logan Deal scored inside for Sky View and Hayden Howell sank a dagger 3.
Sky View answered Southwick’s make with a pull up jumper from Kendrick Terrell, the teams traded empty possessions and Dixie called timeout at 1:23, down 48-44.
Deal set up Brooks Rigby for an easy inside score and Sky View was ahead for good 50-44 when Dixie again called timeout with 54.8 seconds remaining.
The Flyers had two attempts miss before Deal put home a slam dunk to provide the final margin.
“I thought we had some good looks. It would have been nice to get Kyle more touches but credit their defense,” Roberts said.
Carter Davis led the winners with his four 3’s and 14 total points. Deal finished with 13 for the winners and Howell canned four 3’s for 12 points for the Bobcats.
Robinson was the top man for Dixie with his 14 points including four treys. Lemke was the only other double-digit scorer for Dixie with 10.
Southwick and Jordan Roberts scored six points apiece for Dixie, Grant Carter had five and Ward rounded out the Flyers scoresheet with his 3-pointer.
The young Flyers will lose only three seniors to graduation. Like last year when Dixie finished second at state to Snow Canyon, coach Roberts said the loss to Sky View will ignite Dixie’s fire to win even more.
“It adds a lot of fuel,” he said. “It’s tough to lose but there’s a lot to learn from losing. Our guys are ready to go back to work. We’ll start on Monday and we’ll be back.”
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