WEST JORDAN — Olympus wrapped up its preseason slate both on a positive and negative note.

On the one hand coach Matt Barnes was pleased his guys played so well during stretches of Tuesday's 66-56 win at West Jordan.

"Any time you come to West Jordan and play the way we played overall, it was a pretty dang good performance by my kids," said Barnes. "Any win out here is a great win."

At the same time he wasn't pleased with how his team carelessly nearly blew a huge lead in the final 10 minutes. After opening up a 50-30 lead late in the third quarter on a Nick Paulos dunk, Olympus turned it over 10 times over the next eight minutes as West Jordan mixed up its defenses to try and claw back in the game.

It nearly worked for the underdog Jaguars.

West Jordan methodically cut Olympus' lead to 59-54 with 2:05 remaining, and following another Titan turnover the Jaguars had a chance to close to within three, but a short jumper rattled off the rim. That miss swung momentum back in Oly's favor, and it nailed 7-of-8 free throws down the stretch to pull away for the seemingly comfortable victory.

"We've got to get more consistent. That's the biggest thing we talk about consistency over 32 minutes," said Barnes. "We show great signs for three or four minutes but then we fall asleep for two of three minutes. We've got to correct that, if we're going to make a run at this thing we can't have those lapses especially when it's on the line."

Paulos led the way for Olympus with 25 points on five 3-pointers. The Titan sharp shooter set the tone early with three 3-pointers in the first quarter, including a four-point play that put his team ahead 17-12 early.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by West Jordan's Andrew Ashton and Adam Hawker trimmed Olympus' lead to 24-23 with five minutes remaining in the opening half, but the momentum didn't last. Spurred on by tenacious defending, Olympus scored 13 straight points to open up a double-digit halftime lead.

"Everyone talks about our offense, but we've got to be good defensively. When we step up defensively that's what leads to our good offense," said Barnes.

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The Titans maintained the cozy lead throughout most of the third quarter, but that's when fatigue seemed to set in according to Barnes. That carelessness nearly cost the Titans, but they hung on and now head into region play this Friday against Stansbury sporting a glossy 8-1 record.

Connor Brady added 13 points for Olympus, while Joe Bourne chipped in with 11 as his team shot 52 percent from the field and 87 percent from the free throw line.

West Jordan, which was led by Ashton's 21 points, will try and regroup before opening region play next Friday at Taylorsville.

e-mail: jedward@desnews.com

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