CEDAR CITY — The Layton Christian Eagles were on the ropes and nearly knocked out before they realized what hit them.
The Eagles fought back — really fought back — from 13 points down with six minutes left in the third quarter to crush Green River, 73-46, Wednesday night in the first round of the Class 1A boys basketball tournament, to win their first-ever state tournament game.
Senior Chris Anderson scored 18 points and had six blocks and Matt Augustine, Jeff Ryans and Jeremy Stephens chipped in with 15, 12 and 10 points each in the 27-point laugher.
"It's like a fight," Layton Christian coach Bobby Porter said. "If you're a boxer you have to wait until you get hit hard before you realize you're in a fight."
Layton Christian (14-8) trailed by a baker's dozen with 6:20 left in the third quarter. But five minutes later, following a 26-0 run, led 49-36.
Using full-court pressure defense, the Eagles forced eight straight Green River turnovers and scored on all but one of them. Following the 26-0 spurt, the Eagles went on an 11-3 run to lead by 20 with 3:39 left in the game.
In the first 18 minutes of the game, the Eagles looked like a team that hadn't been to a state tournament game. Green River, behind 12 first-half points by Gabrin Ekker, was in complete control before the Eagles' full-court pressure kicked in.
"I expected us to see a lot of pressure like that," Green River coach Stan Parsons said. "I was quite surprised we handled it as well as we did in the first half."
The second half was another story.
"We were playing at the beginning not to lose and not playing to win," Porter said. "We said (at halftime), 'look, we need to put it all on the line and let's battle.' "
In the second half, the Eagles forced 22 Green River turnovers and held the Pirates to just 15 points.
Layton Christian finished second in Region 17 behind Waterford and West Ridge Academy finished third and Intermountain Christian fourth. All but ICS advanced after the first day.
"People think we play in a gourmet region, but we don't," Porter said.
The Eagles, who have won 11 of their last 12, battle top-ranked Valley Thursday at 4:10 p.m.
Ekker finished with with 16 points for Green River, which plays Wasatch Academy in consolation play at 12:50 p.m., and Bowman Mitchell followed with 14.
In other first-day action:
MANILA 58, MERIDIAN 49: Manila scored two less baskets than Meridian but hits 18 of 30 foul shots en route to the upset.
Jeff Kippen led the Mustangs with 20 points and Zac Schofield and Jeremy Catron had 11 each. Philip Erickson led Meridian with 14.
WEST RIDGE ACADEMY 60, DUCHESNE 55: West Ridge's Barry Wilson poured in 21 points and Robert LeFevre added 10 more in its victory over Duchesne.
West Ridge led by 11 at the half and held on for the win.
Randy Hanberg led Duchesne with 12.
PANGUITCH 69, DUGWAY 50: Acey Burningham and Casey Christensen paced Panguitch with 19 and 14 points each in the easy victory.
Corey Rose led Dugway with 17 and Nathan Nelson had 15.
WATERFORD 61, WAYNE 41: Jake Reynolds scored 15 points, on five three-pointers, and Ryan Judd and Ryan Pelo added 12 and 10 points each for Waterford.
Drew Taft led Wayne with nine.
The Ravens led by 17 at the end of the first quarter and never looked back.
RICH 78, INTERMOUNTAIN CHRISTIAN 52: Three Rich scorers hit for double figures led by Blake Pugmire's 21 to led the Rebels. KC Weston added 13 and Kyle Motta finished with 10. Greg Spencer led ICS with 15.
MILFORD 68, WEST DESERT 60: The Tigers beat heavily favored West Desert behind 19 points from Russell Holm, 17 from Travis Nelson and 12 from Derrick Bradshaw.
West Desert's Drew Alder led all scorers with 36.
VALLEY 75, WASATCH ACADEMY 40: Undefeated and No. 1 Valley (21-0) cruised to the easy first-round victory behind 19 from Marvin Hoyt and 11 from Kit Goulding. Eleven Valley players scored in the game.
Skinsuke Ito led Wasatch Academy with 11 points and Yanko Dzhukev had 10.
E-mail: jhinton@desnews.com