| 10:24 AM, Jan. 7, 2012 | ST. GEORGE - Two things were reaffirmed Friday night: 1) Pine View just never gives up and 2) Hurricane is still trying to develop a killer instinct.
What we already knew was the Tigers can be awfully tough to stop when they get rolling, and runs at the beginning and end of the game were too much for the Panthers to compete with in Hurricane's 62-49 road win.
"It's always a tough place to play here," said Tigers forward Colton Marshall, who had 20 points to tie for the team lead with Taylor Parker. "Pine View is a good team, so it's tough to play here and stay up the whole time. Our crowd got back into it and helped us out."
Hurricane recovered from a surprising home defeat to Dixie on Wednesday to improve to 1-1 in Region 9 play, 7-3 overall.
It wasn't easy - although it did look that way at the start.
More than 111â„2 minutes into the game the Tigers were leading 20-3. Pine View (0-2, 7-4) had no rhythm offensively and didn't do much on defense either. The scene was set for a laugher, but the Panthers snapped out of their funk.
Their anemic output at the start was quickly trumped by a scoring splurge of 14 points in the ensuing 3:43 as the Panthers closed the gap to 26-17 at halftime.
"At the first we moved more as a unit," said Marshall of Hurricane's quick start. "We were making good plays, playing good defense. I think we got a little greedy in the second quarter, trying to get a couple steals we shouldn't have.
Pine View dialed long distance to stay in the contest. Jack Bangerter hit three treys, and Christian Andersen and Dylan Edwards also connected from beyond the arc. The Panthers closed to within four points at two junctures in the fourth quarter.
"When you're playing a little too fast and other teams are shooting well, it catches up to you," said Hurricane coach Brian Vaifanua. ""We were switching things up defensively, but (Bangerter) was hitting his shots. His ability to shoot from the outside kept them in the game and bit into our lead a little bit."
With the possibility of a meltdown looming and a potential 0-2 start in a challenging region very much a possibility, Hurricane went back to what it does best - using its quickness and length.
Weston Yardley (10 points) popped a 3-pointer. Boston Gubler made a tough shot in the lane. Marshall slashed into the lane for a bucket. Parker nailed a jumper.
Just as important, Hurricane stepped it up a notch defensively by not allowing any open 3-point shots or easy baskets. What was a perilous 44-40 lead grew because of an 18-9 flourish.
"We just had confidence," Parker said. "We didn't panic. We passed the ball and were not selfish, that was the main thing."
Having four grizzled seniors in Parker, Marshall, Gubler (eight points) and Yardley didn't hurt either.
Said Marshall: "We've been through this before, so that helped a lot."
Kody Wilstead and Bangerter had 13 points apiece to pace the Panthers, who made just 6 of 12 from the free-throw line. Hurricane, on the other hand, drained 17 of 24.
"We shot well from the free-throw line, shot well from the field and rebounded well," Vaifanua said. "Our shots fell through the net for us."
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