In a tightly contested late season region matchup, the Timpview Thunderbirds came from behind after trailing at halftime and defeated their cross-town rivals the Orem Tigers in overtime by a score of 50-47.
“That’s usually how it goes. Whenever we face Orem it’s always a dogfight. Playing in that environment is really hard and we played a lot of young guys that had never been in this type of environment, so I think our composure was huge,” said Timpview head coach Izzy Ingle.
Timpview trailed for most of the game, and it wasn’t until three minutes remained that the Thunderbirds grabbed their first lead since the early stages of the contest.
“We were down seven at the half but it felt like we were down 17,” Ingle said. “Our shots weren’t falling but our defense was able to keep us in it. We just stayed strong on defense and the shots eventually started falling for us at the right time.”
After Orem wasted no time grabbing the lead back, Timpview’s Mason Ford hit a 3-pointer with a minute left to put his team ahead 42-40.
After a pair of Orem free throw knotted the game up at 42, Timpview’s Aisa Galea’i missed a potential game-winning fadeaway at the buzzer, sending the game to overtime.
With the teams trading buckets for the better part of overtime, Timpview found itself up 48-47 with six seconds left. Orem then chose to foul Galea’i, putting him on the free throw line where he would ultimately give his team a three-point lead with three seconds left.
Orem’s Jax Allen threw up an unsuccessful desperation 3-pointer as the Tigers fell short to their rivals and missed out on a golden opportunity to clinch their region in front of a raucous home crowd.
With the win, Timpview faces Spanish Fork in the last game of the season with the opportunity to become region champs.
“This is huge,” Ingle said. “The win tonight gives a chance to win the region title next week and our guys want to win championships. We’re playing the right way at the right time and it’s big for our confidence.”