GRANTSVILLE — Playing on the road against Grantsville, the Bear River Bears refused to quit.
Behind senior guard Wade "Bubba" Miller and junior forward Nick Hillis, the Bears stayed in the game and came back late to force overtime Friday night.
Bear River scored 15 points in the extra period after Garrett Fronk and Miller hit back-to-back 3s, and the Bears played their best down the stretch — scoring 29 points in the fourth quarter and overtime while clamping down on defense, allowing only 16 points in the same time frame. Those things ultimately enabled the Bears to win 58-52.
"We started off a little slow," said Bear River head coach Kasey Winters. "[Grantsville] played a good zone defense and it took us awhile to figure it out."
Miller has led the Bears in scoring all year long, but Friday was Hillis' night. As the Cowboys put a strangle on Miller's early offense Hillis carried the Bears with 13 points and 12 rebounds.
When the Cowboys held the Bears to only four third-quarter points it looked like they would cruise to an easy region win. However, Bear River kept things close with a balanced scoring attack led by Hillis. Miller and Fronk scored 11 each, and both players hit three 3-pointers. Austin Miller added 10 and Kyle Zundel scored 8 for the Bears.
Grantsville's Devin Adams scored a game-high 19 points in his team's tough home loss. Caleb Edwards had 11 points and Devin Arellano scored eight points for the Cowboys.
Both teams entered Friday's game with 2-0 records in Region 11, but it was Bear River that got out of Grantsville with its undefeated record intact. The Bears are 10-3 overall and 3-0 in Region 11 while averaging 61.5 points per game.
Casey is a husband, father of 3, USU alum and Utah high school sports fan. Follow him on twitter @caseyzundel and find more of his work at tremontonleader.com.