The Titan Triple has been a hallmark of Olympus’ success for decades, but in Monday’s 5A state quarterfinal at the University of Utah it was the low-post game of Jack Wistrcill that proved to be the difference.
After Salem Hills shaved a 19-point Olympus lead in the third quarter down to six by the end of the quarter, Wistrcill went to town to start the fourth. He scored 11 straight points for his team as No. 1 Olympus pulled away for the 63-45 victory over No. 8 Salem Hills to advance to the 5A semifinals.
“This is my third year playing varsity, coach (Matt) Barnes has trusted me for a long time, so I knew he was going to come down to me down the stretch, and my guards know where to find me down low,” said Wistrcill.
He scored four quick points to open the fourth quarter on a baby hook and a layup, but Salem Hills continued to show its great resolve, scoring on back-to-back 3-point plays to whittle the lead to 45-41 with 5:15 remaining.
Olympus kept feeding the ball to Wistrcill in the low post as he scored on consecutive possessions to stretch the lead back to eight. For good measure, he made sure to sprinkle in a Titan Triple as he buried a deep straight-away 3-pointer at with 3:39 remaining to effective put the game out of reach as Olympus went ahead 11. From there it was all free throws to book its semifinal place.
“We got rattled there for a bit, and obviously we hadn’t been in many situations like that. I was just proud of how we regrouped. We got the ball to Jack and Jack went to work. Jack was pretty tough when we needed him,” said Olympus coach Matt Barnes.
Wistrcill finished the game 10 of 20 from the field for 25 points and six rebounds. Anthony Olsen scored 13 points for Olympus, 10 of which came in the first half as his weak-side defender doubled Wistrcill and he slashed to the basket for easy buckets.
Olympus led 35-19 at the half and looked like it would run away for the victory. Ryker Richards and his Salem Hills teammates made sure that didn’t happen with a great offensive and defensive third quarter, cutting the lead to 41-35 heading into the fourth.
Richards finished the game with 19 points, while Chase DeGraffenried had 11 and Zakery Nelson chipped in with 10.
In the fourth quarter as Olympus attacked from the low post with Wistrcill, Salem Hills opted not to double team him and he methodically found his spots for high-percentage shots. He said there was no panic when Salem Hills cut the deficit to four early in the fourth.
“We’ve been there before, so we just stayed calm and collected and we knew we were going to win, we have trust in our team, trust in the system,” said Wistrcill.
The Olympus senior said there was great motivation seeing the huge Olympus student section at the Huntsman Center.
“It was crazy seeing that. Great shoutout to Olympus and the students who all love us and we love them, crazy support. It’s the best student section in the state, might be the best student section in the country. I don’t know many other (states) that are going to fill up three student sections,” said Wistrcill.
Olympus will face No. 4 seed Bonneville in the semifinals on Wednesday at 7 p.m.