Tigers get closing run, hand Thunder first Region 9 loss
| DAVID CORDERO •
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
• PUBLISHED: JANUARY 13. 2011 4:55AM
| ST. GEORGE - The final sequence was fitting, as it resembled what the rest of the Hurricane-Desert Hills game Wednesday was all about.
There was all kinds of chaos, defense to the hilt and ultimately a missed shot.
Hurricane kept Desert Hills' stellar juniors Tyler Ott and Brandon Simister in check, and fired off an 11-2 run in the fourth quarter to edge the Thunder 39-38.
The Tigers dusted themselves off after a terrible performance at home against Dixie last week to improve to 2-1 in Region 9 boys basketball, 10-2 overall. Meanwhile, Desert Hills suffered their first league defeat, falling to 3-1, 9-3.
"I think our defense caused them to shoot the ball fairly poorly," said Tigers coach Gordon Dotson. "That helped us to stay in the ballgame until we could find a rhythm."
It took them long enough, as both teams engaged in a tense battle in the cacophony of the Thunderdome, easily the most raucous of home sites in the region.
Desert Hills grabbed the lead early, but never raised it to more than five points as Hurricane kept it close. The Thunder were unable to pull away due to some terrible shooting. For the contest, Desert Hills shot 13 of 47 from the field (27 percent).
"We tried do what we can do to stay in it, chip away at it," said Tigers forward Colton Marshall.
Added teammate Taylor Parker, who had 11 points: "We just tried to play physical and make them take tough shots. We wanted to get them frustrated."
It was apparent the Thunder tried to do the same. It worked until early in the fourth quarter when the Tigers surged.
Weston Yardley zipped a pass into Parker for an easy score to tie it at 31 with 6:17 to go. Marshall (team-high 12 points) followed with a bucket - he scored six of the next eight points - as Hurricane took its first lead since early in the first quarter. Another Marshall score - Ott was called for a goaltend - made it 35-31 before Ott countered with a driving layup.
Hurricane lengthened the lead to four on a nifty pass inside from Boston Gubler (10 points) and added two more when Parker stole pass and laid it in with 2:25 to go, sending the Hurricane faithful into a frenzy.
"Colton did a great job getting some baskets underneath," Dotson said. "Taylor Parker got a steal and a basket. The defense is what turned the ballgame around in the fourth quarter."
Simister (eight points), who hit only one perimeter jumper all night, made a pair of free throws to close the gap to four with 2:19 remaining.
Hurricane then decided to string out its remaining possessions as long as possible without looking to score. It nearly backfired.
The first turnover turned into an Ott (12 points) layup with 1:33 left. The Tigers were able to milk another 51 seconds off the clock, but again the possession came up dry - another turnover.
Dotson defended his strategy of lengthening possessions as opposed to trying to add to the lead.
"We say we only want a layup in that situation," he said. "The problem is our ball handling is just average and they have great athletes at the guard line."
On the ensuing possession, Desert Hills missed three shots before Tanner Atkin was fouled after securing the third offensive rebound of the sequence. Atkin nailed his first free throw, but missed the second. He grabbed his own rebound, but his second-chance shot was blocked by Gubler.
On the other end McCrae Vaifanua had a chance to ice it for Hurricane with 7.5 seconds to go, but he clanked the front end of a one-and-one. Simister rushed the ball up the court and fired an off-balance three that was off the mark.
|
|
Activities 
