CEDAR CITY — The Rich Rebels have made a name for themselves by winning three state football championships in the 1990s. Now they want to put themselves on the basketball map.
With their 52-39 victory over previously unbeaten and top-ranked Valley Friday night in the Class 1A boys semifinals, the Rebels can do just that. They meet No. 3 Waterford — a team they beat by seven Dec. 21 — tonight at 5 p.m. at Southern Utah University.
"Our goal was to win region and state," Rich coach Ashley Brown said. "We've accomplished one and Saturday we'll try to accomplish another."
Juniors Kyle Motta and Colby Holmes scored 17 and 16 points apiece to lead the Rebels to only their second state basketball championship game in school history. Their last was in the mid-1990s when they lost to Panguitch.
"We knew we had to get by Valley to win the whole thing," Brown said. "Our kids have looked forward to this since we won region. We knew we were on the same side (as Valley). It was hard to keep focused on the first two games so we wouldn't exit before we hit them."
The Rebels (20-5) used solid defense and foul shooting in the 13-point victory. They hit 17 of 22 foul pitches, including 14 of 18 in the fourth quarter. Defensively, they held Valley to 26 points below its average (65.7). Also, the Rebels scored 10 more points than Valley has allowed.
"I thought as far as preparation we were ready and I thought we were up for the game. I couldn't see anything wrong," Valley coach Jim Hoyt said. "We were getting the shots. They were as good as we've been getting all year, but we just couldn't knock them down, and I don't know why."
Rich led by four points at the half before Valley (22-1) fought back to tie the score at 25-25 and 27-27 in the third quarter and 29-29 early in the fourth, but the Buffaloes went nearly five minutes in the final period without scoring a point. They went 0 for 7 from the foul line in that quarter. Rich also turned the over 14 times in the second half to Valley's four, but the Buffaloes couldn't take advantage of them.
The Buffaloes play West Ridge for third place today at 3 p.m.
In the other semifinal:
WATERFORD 59, WEST RIDGE ACADEMY 33: The Ravens hit 8 of 12 three-point shots in the first half to run away from West Ridge to advance to the championship game for the second consecutive year.
Jake Reynolds scored 17 points, including three three-pointers and Ryan Pelo had 15 points, with three three-pointers to lead Waterford. The Ravens' first 15 points came in increments of three.
Steve Carter led West Ridge with 14 points.
In other consolation action:
GREEN RIVER 64, WEST DESERT 58: Gabrin Ekker and Bowman Mitchell scored 24 and 21 points each to lead the Pirates into the consolation game against Duchesne.
Andrew Alder led West Desert with 24 points.
MILFORD 63, LAYTON CHRISTIAN 57: Russell Holm led three Milford players to scored in double digits with 19 points to lead the Tigers. Chance Williams added 16 and Travis Nelson added 12. The Tigers play Panguitch for fifth place.
Jeff Ryans paced Layton Christian with 17 and Chris Anderson had 16.
DUCHESNE 55, DUGWAY 50:Mitch Grant (13) and Mike Moon (12) combined for 25 points as Duchesne moved on to the consolation championship game. Corey Rose and Dane Schofleld had 14 each for Dugway.
PANGUITCH 68, MANILA 57: Panguitch bounced back from its loss to Waterford with a win over Manila. Acey Burningham paced the Bobcats with 17 points and Adam Howard and Landon Fullmer had 12 and 11 points each. Jeff Kippen and Wade Briggs had 11 each for Manila. Panguitch plays Milford for fifth Saturday.