OGDEN — All season, Bountiful worked on a triangle-and-two defense in practice, but not once had coach Mike Maxwell implemented it in a game.
“We were just saving this thing for when we needed it,” he said.
In Saturday’s 4A championship against Kearns — which seemed like a team of destiny this week at the Dee Events Center — Maxwell decided his team needed it.
Bushmen Ebet had been the breakout player of the state tournament through the first three rounds, and even though Bountiful played against Kearns twice in the regular season, Maxwell knew his team needed to mix things up.
That simple decision to play a triangle-and-two defense proved brilliant as Bountiful flustered Kearns throughout, racing to a huge lead in the second quarter on its way to a comfortable 66-54 victory and a second-straight 4A championship.
“We played a zone against them the first two meetings. Today we just knew that Bushmen was that good and (Tayler) Marteliz is just an amazing player. We just had to guard them, ’cause they’re going off this whole tournament,” said Bountiful’s Zac Seljaas.
Tight and defensive through the first quarter, Bountiful’s defensive pressure swung momentum its way for good in a dominant second quarter.
Leading 15-9 early in the second, the Braves ripped off a 19-1 run to open up a cozy 34-10 lead with two minutes left in the half. Jake LaSalle hit a pair of 3-pointers during the stretch, with Seljaas adding a deep three that put his team ahead 30-10.
“It starts with the defense. These kids, they just understood, they’ve been coming to basketball camps since they were little. We keep telling them, that’s how you win championships, you’ve got to play defense,” said Maxwell.
Leading by 20 at the half, the title was never in doubt in the second half for the Braves, who held Kearns to 32 percent shooting.
For Maxwell, the victory was no doubt a special one as it came on the 50-year anniversary of his father, Larry Maxwell, winning back-to-back titles at Highland in 19645 and 1965.
Despite dominating in the quarterfinals and semifinals after eking out an improbable victory in the first round, Maxwell and his team knew nothing would come easy against Kearns.
“I’ve got mad respect for Kearns ’cause they are a good team,” said Bountiful center Jeff Pollard, who led all scorers with 22 points. “Playing them twice, we knew they were a good team.”
Trailing 36-16 at the half, Kearns clawed its way back to 50-36 by the end of the third quarter to give itself a slim hope.
In the fourth quarter though, Bountiful quickly put the game out of reach with an 8-0 run before Kearns scored its first points of the quarter with 5:00 remaining.
Along with Pollard, Bountiful had three other players score in double figures led by Seljaas with 14 points and Collin Parrish and Jake LaSalle with 12 each.
Clutching the trophy afterward under the same basket he rescued Bountiful from certain defeat against Murray earlier in the tournament, Seljaas said the championship was surreal.
“That was just a wake-up call for us, and we just had to fight our way through here,” he said.
Maxwell likened it to a second-chance his team couldn’t squander.
4A All-Tournament Team
MVP — Zac Seljaas, Bountiful
Bushmen Ebet, Kearns
Jeff Pollard, Bountiful
Jake Lindsey, Olympus
Buay Kuajian, Kearns
Wilhelm Clark, Orem
The All-Tournament Team was selected by votes from the Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune.
James Edward is the Deseret News prep editor and Real Salt Lake beat writer.