Here’s a recap of Thursday’s 4A quarterfinal games at the Sevier Valley Center, with No. 1 San Juan, No. 3 Enterprise, No. 4 Rowland Hall and No. 10 Kanab advancing to the semifinals.
Rowland Hall 51, South Sevier 32
Rowland Hall’s Winged Lions secured a 51-42 win over the Rams of South Sevier Thursday afternoon during the quarterfinal round of the 2A state basketball tournament at the Sevier Valley Center in Richfield.
Rowland Hall, which went undefeated in region play, had a simple philosophy heading into the state finals.
“If the wheel’s not broken, don’t fix it or reinvent it,” said coach Zack Alvidrez. “It wasn’t a secret we had a size advantage.”
The advantage came in the form of Sam Andrew, a 6-foot-4 senior who dominated play under the net against South Sevier, racking up 25 points.
“We wanted to go back inside and set the tone in the paint, which is what we did,” Alvidrez said.
The game started with South Sevier jumping out ahead as the Rams led by as much as four, thanks in part to early attacks by Ridge Tebbs and Emilio Miramontes. Tebbs, with 17, and Miramontes, with 10, led the South Sevier scoring effort.
However, the Rowland Hall one-two punch of Andrew and teammate Ozzie Smith proved too much for the Rams as the Winged Lions built up a 16-12 advantage by the end of the first quarter.
“Smith is a heck of a player. He’s a three level scorer and got to his spots,” Alvidrez said. Smith ended the game with 17 points.
The Winged Lions never let their feet off the pedal as they continued to expand their lead.
“You have to contain their shooters,” Alvidrez said. “That’s a very explosive offense that we did a great job against tonight. It’s a great team and our boys stepped up to the challenge.”
Rowland Hall played a bit of mixed matched zone to help keep the Rams from hitting a scoring rhythm during the game.
“Everyone has bought into their role,” Alvidrez said. “Even if it’s a guy who comes in and gives you 30 seconds, it doesn’t matter because every role is important.”
Rowland Hall’s boys are now set to take on San Juan in Friday’s semifinals at 7:30 p.m.
San Juan’s Broncos took Rockwell out of contention during a 69-58 game earlier in the day. They finished their region slate of games with a 7-3 record prior to entering the tournament.
“It’s a tough San Juan team,” Alvidrez said. “They’ve been a unanimous No. 1 team all season long. We’re just looking forward to competing. We’re going to strap up and go to battle.”
Enterprise 60, Parowan 41
Nash Palmer scored 14 points, while Ryland Randall and Brady Crouch added 13 each as Enterprise overcame a poor second quarter by outscoring Parowan 44-20 in the second half to pull away for the comfortable 60-41 win in the 2A quarterfinals at the Sevier Valley Center.
No. 6 Parowan outscored No. 3 Enterprise 13-4 in the second quarter to take a 21-16 halftime lead. Matt Ramos scored six points in the third quarter as Enterprise found its offensive rhythm and went ahead 34-32 heading into the fourth.
The Wolves pulled away quickly in the fourth as Randall scored nine of his 13 points in the fourth, and Crouch scored seven of his 13 in the fourth.
“It was a good win. (It’s) always good to get the first win behind you. After getting the jitters out in the first half I thought we came out in the second half and played a lot better. Hopefully we can build on that going forward,” said Enterprise coach Bud Randall.
Enterprise advances to the 2A semifinals at 9:10 p.m. on Friday.
Kanab 54, Millard 50
No. 10 seed Kanab continued its late-season surge in the 2A quarterfinals on Thursday as it held off a late rally from No. 2 seed for the 54-50 victory at the Sevier Valley Center in Richfield.
Kanab built a 27-16 halftime lead behind the hot shooting of Kason Janes, who scored 14 of his 24 points in first half. Millard made a late charge in the fourth quarter, but Janes made four key free throws in the quarter to help preserve the victory.
Jordan Cornell added 12 points for the Cowboys. Millard’s Peyton Rasmussen led his team in scoring with 19 points on five 3-pointers in the loss.
“Boys came out and played well in the first half and we survived in the second. Excited to play another day,” said Kanab coach Jerron Glazier.
San Juan 69, Rockwell 58
San Juan took one step closer to the football-basketball state title double. The top-seeded Broncos overcame a slow first quarter and a four-point halftime deficit to rally past No. 8 Rockwell for the 69-58 victory over Rockwell at the Sevier Valley Center.
Jensen Grover led the way offensively for San Juan, scoring 24 points, with Cooper Black adding 20 points. Rockwell was led in the loss by Weston Henderson, who scored 15 points, with David Christiansen adding 14.
“After shaking off some first-half jitters and getting rid of most of our unforced turnovers, we managed to pull ahead in the third period and maintain the lead despite Rockwell’s intense never-give-up style of play. The boys are excited to once again be moving on,” said San Juan coach Travis Black.