HURRICANE - Is there a college in the market for a 6-foot-6 forward with range?

Snow Canyon's Preston Root said he hasn't been recruited yet, but after a performance like Friday's at Hurricane, that might change. The senior blocked shots, grabbed rebounds and hit several shots from the perimeter - none bigger than his 15-footer from the left side with four seconds left to beat the Tigers 52-51.

But it wasn't as simple as that. Before Root's shot completed its arc - a perfect parabola - just about everything had gone wrong for the Warriors in the previous four minutes. Hurricane went on an 18-5 run to erase Snow Canyon's 12-point lead.

Yet there was Root, calm in the face of adversity, nailing an open jumper.

"At the time you're just thinking about your teammates and what's best for the team," Root said. "We tried to get a high screen and roll for X (Xavier Fely). They overplayed it so we kicked it out to Jordan (Bozarth) and then it came to me."

Root had 19 points and fellow post player Fely had 15 as the Warriors had just enough to claim a road victory in Region 9 and boost their league mark to 3-1 (10-3 overall). Hurricane, coming off an exhasuting one-point win at Desert Hills Wednesday night, fell to 2-2, 10-3.

"We're fortunate we had that lead so we could hold on," said SC coach James Brown.

Three minutes into the fourth quarter about the only question remaining was how many points the Warriors were going to win by. Playing suffocating defense on Hurricane big men Boston Gubler (10 points, nine rebounds) and Colton Marshall (12 points, nine rebounds), Snow Canyon forced a bevy of turnovers and led 45-33 after a Fely jumper with 4:59 left.

The shot gave the Warriors nine points thus far in the final period, already an improvement from an insomnia-curing third quarter when the two clubs combined for 11 points.

Yet the momentum shifted in a heartbeat as Marshall stole a pass at midcourt and slammed home two points.

The crowd exploded. More importantly, the Tigers snapped out of their trance.

"On that dunk Colton got, we were still up by 10, but it felt like we were down by 10 because of the crowd getting into it," Root said.

Snow Canyon turned the ball over on its next two possessions as the Tigers tightened the deficit to 45-39. Austin Ovard made 1 of 2 from the free-throw line - the Warriors only sank 5 of 12 from the stripe in the fourth quarter - but McCrae Vaifanua (11 points) followed with a 3-pointer to make it 46-42.

Snow Canyon scored the next four points to crank up the advantage to eight points with two minutes remaining, but it didn't faze Hurricane. Gubler and Marshall made baskets in a 19-second span and Vaifanua connected again from beyond the arc to draw within 50-49 with 58 seconds to go.

The gym nearly blew open when Weston Yardley picked Ben Smith's pocket at midcourt and steamed toward the hoop. He was fouled hard by Ovard, giving him a chance to put Hurricane ahead for the first time since early in the first quarter.

Yardley missed both free throws, but the Tigers managed to tie up the Warriors on the loose ball and maintained possession.

Hurricane tried to go inside, but Fely and Root blocked shots - yet Snow Canyon was still unable to corral the rock. Another Root block kept the Tigers from an elusive lead, but Marshall coerced an eight-foot leaner into the basket with 15 seconds to go.

Brown called a timeout and looked into his players eyes. He saw some frustration, but not fear. He drew up a play to Fely, but when

Hurricane came out in a zone defense instead of man to man, Brown's players knew what to do.

"Our guys did a great job making the extra pass and finding Preston in the short corner," Brown said. "He knocked that sucker down."

And as for why Root hasn't grabbed any attention from the college ranks?

"(Root) hadn't shown any interest until about three weeks ago," Brown said. "We're trying to get his name out. Nate (Staheli, a former SC assistant coach) is in Hawaii trying to get the word out to some of the teams over there. Hopefully he'll get a chance."