The 4A boys basketball state semifinals were held at Utah State’s Smith Spectrum on Friday.
The top two seeds took care of business relatively easy as No. 1 Sky View and No. 2 Dixie both marched into Saturday’s 4A state championship game.
Sky View 57, Crimson Cliffs 42
With Sky View’s student section still buzzing after watching its girls team win on a dramatic buzzer beater by Hannah Radford, the boys team fed off the energy in its own 4A semifinal shortly thereafter.
The top-seeded boys jumped out fast against underdog Crimson Cliffs on Friday night at Utah State, racing to an early double-digit lead and withstanding a second-half push as it marched into the 4A state championship with a 57-42 victory.
Sky View led 32-14 at the half, and after Crimson Cliffs cut the lead to eight in the fourth quarter it made the necessary plays down the stretch to secure the win.
“It was a tale of two halves. We know that teams aren’t going to go away, you can get a big lead and for the most part they’re going to climb their way back in. We’ve had some of those games this season and we’ve learned from them. It’s a four quarters game. You’ve got to keep playing and the guys did a good making some big plays,” said Sky View coach Kirk Hillyard.
With the win, Sky View advances into Saturday’s 4A state championship game and will face Dixie at 5:30 p.m.
“Happy to be there. There’s only two teams left that get to play tomorrow, and only one of those gets to end the season on the win,” said Hillyard.
Logan Deal continued to lead the way for Sky View in the victory as he scored a game-high 20 points despite contending with Crimson Cliffs’ outstanding defense and length.
“He’s got the heart of a champion, heart of a lion, and he’ll do whatever it takes to win. If I ask him to pass and never shoot he would do that. That’s the kind of player he is. He’s a team first guy. So I’m happy for him to have some success that way,” said Hillyard.
Tanner Davis added 16 points, with most of those points coming from the foul line on 12 of 15 shooting to go along with his eight rebounds.
As a team, Sky View made 22 of 31 free throws which helped it hold off Crimson Cliffs’ comeback attempt in the fourth quarter.
Heading into the game, Sky View knew Crimson Cliffs’ strength was its defense, but it found an early offensive rhythm that frustrated the Mustangs as it jumped out quick for the 16-6 lead after the first quarter.
“We’ve been able to score the ball against teams this season, whether it’s from the outside shooting 3s or whether it’s executing, and we happened to execute the offense really good to start the game kind of got us going, got Logan going and got us some easy buckets,” Hillyard said.
Sky View stretched the lead to 32-14 by halftime, with Deal scoring 16 of his 20 points in that dominant first half.
Dixie 62, Layton Christian 41
One year after losing in the state championship, those who were a part of that loss for Dixie now get their mulligan shot.
No. 2 seed Dixie dominated No. 6 seed Layton Christian in Friday’s 4A semifinal at Utah State, rolling to a 62-41 victory and advancing to Saturday’s state championship.
Layton Christian was hoping to pull off another upset like it did in the quarterfinals on Thursday, but the Flyers were simply too good at both ends of the floor, particularly defensively.
Layton Christian shot just 31%, and only 4 of 21 from behind the arc, which meant the Eagles were never really in the game. The 41 points was a new season-low for the Eagles.
Dixie jumped out to a 19-9 lead after the first quarter and methodically built the lead up from there. It was a welcome sign for coach Tyler Roberts.
“We haven’t had great starts in our last few games, and we’ve been talking about let’s do this to start the game,” he said.
Dixie extended the lead to 34-21 by halftime and then 48-29 heading into the fourth quarter.
Dixie will now face top seed Sky View in Saturday’s state championship game at 5:30 p.m.
“We play a very, very good Sky View team, and we just have to come out and play and do what we do,” said Roberts. “I’m excited for that opportunity to have a chance to play for it, because that’s what it’s all about, to have a chance.”
Dixie big man Kyle Lemke was outstanding in the paint as he led all scorers with 24 points to go along with his eight rebounds. Kenneth Robinson added 10 points for the Flyers.
Roberts said the biggest key defensively for his team was dealing with Layton Christian point guard Tyrese Lacey. When these teams met in a preseason game back in December, Lacey scored 22 points even though Dixie won 72-64.
Roberts said his team is much more mature than it was back in the preseason, and it showed with the way they executed the game plan.
“Lacey is unbelievable, and that was my biggest concern is just containing him. Of course he scored a lot towards the end there, but he only had three at halftime,” said Roberts.
Lacey finished with 12 points to lead Layton Christian in the loss.