Green Canyon’s 0 Jared Anderson and 20 Isaac Filimoehala celebrate during the game against Ridgeline in the 4A boys quarterfinals at UCCU in Orem on Monday, Feb. 26, 2024.
Laura Seitz, Deseret News
Layton Christian 58, Murray 53
No. 1 Layton Christian Academy squeaked out a 58-53 win over No. 8 Murray.
The Spartans got out to a quick lead, thanks to their defense holding the Eagles to only one field goal in the first quarter.
While Layton Christian finally got its offense going in the second quarter, it still missed shots around the rim and missed free throws which Murray capitalized on with a 20-27 halftime lead.
“Honestly it was a little bit of jitters,” said Layton Christian head coach Casey Stanley. “You’re playing your first playoff game, you’re in a big arena for the first time, you’re playing a team you haven’t seen before and different kids react differently to situations.”
“We’ve got kids where this is really their first time playing in the playoffs. In the first half we had little jitters like missing layups and free throws.”
The Eagles had much better effort out of halftime and spent most of the second half just behind Murray.
Layton Christian’s Alan Gballau had eight points in the second half, four of which came from dunks which brought the Eagles some much needed momentum.
Luka Kulundzic also boosted the Eagles’ offense in the second half with 11 points and three 3-pointers.
“I think our team is really talented and really athletic, but I think Murray did a fantastic job of slowing us down and not letting us make athletic plays,” said Stanley. “All the credit goes to Murray, tremendous team and tremendous coach. But I thought our boys did a great job and showed a lot of mental toughness.”
A bucket from Gballau midway through the fourth quarter finally tied things up at 45-45 and Layton Christian finally built a small lead.
The lead didn’t last long though as Murray’s Isaiah Beh hit a 3-pointer with two minutes left to tie things up again at 49-49.
Layton Chrisitan hasn’t played many close games this season, and its something Stanley said is very important for his team to learn.
“We haven’t played a lot of close games this year,” he said. “It’s something we have to learn as a team, not just in the state tournament, but as a team we have to execute. We’re still making foolish mistakes down the stretch, and you can only practice so many special situations before they get a feel.”
Despite its inexperience in close games, the Eagles scored nine points in the final two minutes and secured the 58-53 4A quarterfinal victory.
On Feb. 2 Green Canyon had a season low in a 49-36 loss to Ridgeline, its second loss to the RiverHawks this season.
So when the Wolves were matched up with Ridgeline in the 4A quarterfinals it made sure things were going to be different.
“Last time we lost to Ridgeline we met as a staff and talked about how we needed an eight game plan,” said Green Canyon head coach Logan Brown. “We can’t just fix things here and there one game at a time, we have to look at this as we’re trying to play for everything until to the end.”
“The kids have been resilient. After the last loss to Ridgeline all the kids showed up at 6 o’clock on a Saturday in the gym and started shooting. We’re really lucky to coach this group because they’re senior led, theres a lot of senior leadership in that locker room.”
Green Canyon started hot scoring 24 points in the first quarter including five 3-pointers which earned it a 24-17 lead.
The Wolves pushed its lead further, but Ridgeline fought back. RiverHawks’ Carson Cox had 7 points in the quarter and 20 in the game to help tie the game 35-35 at halftime.
In the second half Green Canyon went back to what worked in the first quarter, which was finding the open shooters.
Wolves’ Jared Anderson and Layker Ward scored two 3-pointers each in the third quarter to gain back a 55-47 lead.
Anderson led Green Canyon in scoring with 23 points with five 3-pointers. Ward was just behind with 20 points while scoring six 3-pointers.
Green Canyon scored 13 3-pointers throughout its quarterfinal match.
“We were really confident, I think our shooters got open and guys were able to find them by coming off screens and executing,” said Brown. “It really came down to our level of execution which was really high today. That’s exactly what you want coming into the last week of the season.”
While Green Canyon only scored two field goals in the fourth quarter, Anderson got to the line and scored five points off free throws which helped the Wolves hold onto their lead.