MIDVALE — Hillcrest found out Thursday night what many more Region 2 teams will likely find out as well: keeping up with Bingham's up-tempo style for a half is doable, but virtually impossible for a full game.
Hillcrest wasn't even lucky enough to keep up for a half.
After a competitive first quarter, Bingham's pressure took over as the second-ranked Miners cruised to a 61-41 victory.
"I was pleased for the most part with how we handled the pressure, but it just wore us down," said Hillcrest coach Brad Tingey. "Bingham was terrific."
With the victory, Bingham improved to 8-1 overall, but more importantly 2-0 in Region 2.
"In this league, a 2-0 start is incredible, because at the end, there won't be any undefeated teams," said Bingham coach Mark Dubach, whose team joined Alta as the only 2-0 teams in league play.
Racking up that second victory wasn't easy — at least for a quarter.
Despite Bingham's relentless trapping defense, the Huskies' quick thinking and passing enabled them to hang in there, only down 16-14 after the first quarter.
A big reason for Hillcrest's early success was the hot hand of Matt Manning, who buried three 3-pointers in the first quarter. Those were three brief moments of euphoria for a team that ultimately shot 30 percent from the field.
Trailing 18-16 early in the second quarter, Tingey could see his team's energy starting to wane.
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"We had a lot of chances to tie it, but we just couldn't make a basket," said Tingey.
Ever so slowly those misses turned into points on the other end of court, as Bingham extended its lead to 27-18 at the half. Despite making just 1-of-10 field goals to close the first half, Hillcrest was still within striking distance only down nine.
Unfortunately for the Huskies, instead of whittling the lead away, their six third quarter turnovers helped Bingham open up a cozy 18-point lead late in the quarter.
"The No. 1 goal for us was to make it an up-tempo game, because they're a very good team in the half-court," said Dubach.
After falling behind by 20 early in the fourth quarter, Hillcrest managed to trim Bingham's lead to 13 midway through the quarter, but that was as close as it would come.
Despite falling to 5-4 on the season and 1-1 in region play, Tingey likes his teams competitiveness.
"We've still got a long way to go, but we'll be able to compete every night," said Tingey.
Manning's early 3-point barrage helped him finish with a team-high 14 points for Hillcrest, while Jake Peterson, Brett Sommerville and John Clifford all finished in double figures for Bingham.
E-mail: jedward@desnews.com