Grand County and Kanab face off in the 2A quarterfinals
APA West Valley 57, Duchesne 55
A late defensive stand made the difference for No. 2 American Prep Academy West Valley as it got a narrow 68-66 quarterfinal win over No. 7 Duchesne.
APA West Valley had steady offense throughout the first half and earned itself a 39-33 halftime lead.
However, APA West Valley had a lot to overcome as its season leading scorer, Komy Ocwor, fouled out as Duchesne started to gain momentum.
“We always say ‘next man up,’” said APA West Valley head coach Cameron Wood. “We’ve had guys all year that have hit big shots and played with confidence. Komy (Ocwor) is a great basketball player but all my boys know if they’re open they’re going to shoot. Guys stepped up when guys needed to step up and it was great to see.”
Duchesne tied it at 64-64 midway through the fourth quarter, but with its post season run on the line, APA West Valley forced multiple turnovers to keep its slim lead intact.
“A lot of teams look at us as an offensive threat, but everything starts with our defense,” said Wood. “Our message from the beginning of the game was, ‘You win a game one possession at a time.’ I don’t think that changed at the end of the game. The boys just played as a team and they got it done.”
Brandon Argumedo and Peter Hakim stepped up in Ocwor’s absence with Argumedo scoring 20 points while hitting five 3-pointers and Hakim scoring 17 with seven assists and seven rebounds.
Despite the late push from Duchesne, APA West Valley made sure it never gave up the lead in the second half. Wood said the quarterfinal victory was a confidence booster for the hopeful tournament run.
“Our (postgame) locker room message was that everybody knows we can be flashy and put up a lot of points but ‘can we win a game in a one possession battle?’ So it was really good to see us win a close one moving forward in the state tournament,” said Wood.
Kanab 59, Grand 58
It literally went down to the final second as No. 1 Kanab squeaked out a 59-58 win over No. 8 Grand County.
The Cowboys had trouble getting their offense going in the first half and they were held to just five first-quarter points and 10 second-quarter points. While the Red Devils didn’t hit many more shots, they still held a 21-15 halftime lead.
“We were just missing shots and we really struggled with momentum, that killed our rhythm and offensive flow,” said Kanab head coach Jerron Glazier. “Momentum was gone, and we couldn’t play defense. We’ve got some things that are broken right now that we have to fix.
Things started to turn in favor of Kanab out of the half. Cowboys’ Trajen Glazier hit back-to-back 3-pointers to help get the offense going. Kyle Brown boosted the offense with nine points in the third quarter as Kanab took a 42-63 lead heading into the fourth.
However, Kanab started to revert back to its first half form and Grand County earned a 58-54 lead with less than a minute remaining.
Kanab held possession with 25 seconds left and fought for two offensive rebounds which finally got Kale Glover a 3-pointer with 6.5 seconds left.
Despite the 3-pointer the Cowboys still trailed 58-57 but they got some good luck as the Red Devils missed consecutive free throws.
With only seconds left, Brown got the ball, shot a 3-pointer and missed. It seemed like the game was over but Brown hustled for the rebound and got the put-back as the buzzer went off to steal the 59-58 2A quarterfinal win.
“I heard the coaches say, ‘Shoot it,’ so I threw it up, I just felt something, and I grabbed it and put it back in. It feels good, it made my team happy and I’m glad I did it,” said Brown.
“It was incredible. It’s what dreams are made of. I’m so happy for Kyle, the team, and I’m that they got to experience it together,” said Glazier.
It was a crucial win as top-seeded Kanab hopes to return to the 2A state championship where it lost to Parowan a year ago. However, Glazier says his team still has things to work on if they want to return to the championship.
“We just have to get back to our identity and figure it out,” said Glazier. “I think a little bit of our youth was exposed but overall I’m excited and happy we’re moving on.
North Summit 66, South Sevier 63
Early in the season on Dec. 2 South Sevier got the best of North Summit in a 56-54 overtime win. No. 5 North Summit made sure to get revenge when it counted as it knocked off No. 4 South Sevier 66-63 in the 2A quarterfinals.
Things started out even as South Sevier gained a small 16-17 lead after the first quarter. However, the Braves’ offense exploded in the second quarter and outscored the Rams 27-12 to take a 43-29 lead at halftime.
The second quarter run was led by North Summits Trevor Richins’ 15 points. Richins was the Braves’ leading scorer with 24 points while also sinking three 3-pointers.
“I think we had a lot of energy and a had a lot of momentum. It was really fun for our guys to have that opportunity in the second quarter,” said North Summit head coach Aaron Preece.
Out of the half South Sevier was hungry to even things up. The Rams went on a quick 8-0 run to bring the game within 43-37.
“We talk a lot about ‘weathering the storm.’ South Sevier is a good team and we knew they were going to make a run and we got a little flustered offensively because we tried to match their play instead of running our game,” said Preece.
North Summit went on a run of its own and outscored South Sevier 15-7 through the rest of the third quarter to hold onto a 58-48 lead going into the final quarter.
Things didn’t get much easier for the Braves in the fourth quarter, as the Rams got down hill and scored in the paint. With 30 seconds left South Sevier’s Brace Brindley hit a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to tie the game 62-62.
It was North Summit’s Jake Smith that was the hero at the end of the game. Smith hit a layup immediately after Brindley’s 3-pointer for a 64-62 lead and had a steal to run out the clock and seal the quarterfinal victory for North Summit.
“I’m proud of our guys for weathering that storm and hanging in there to get the win,” said Preece. “We talked about those moments where they’re going on a run to just breathe and take care of what we can control on our end. We just got to make sure we do that going forward and we have to come ready to play.”