LEHI — A big block by Trevon Snoddy led to a breakaway lay-in by Duncan Reid to seal a nail-biting 59-56 overtime win for Skyridge over Region 4 rival Corner Canyon on Tuesday.
Reid led the way for the Falcons, scoring a game-high 23 points scored to fend off what proved a resilient Charger team that gave the home team all it could handle.
“That’s a really good team and a really, really good-coached team,” said Skyridge coach Jeff Gardner. “A Dan Lunt-coached team is going to give you 32 minutes of battle, no matter what, and tonight it was 36 minutes. So this is a really good win for us.”
Gardner’s team came out rolling in the first half, building a quick 13-3 lead midway through the first quarter before going into the break up 32-20. The Falcons did all their work inside and in the midrange game, as all 32 points scored came with just one made 3-point shot — a rare feat in this day and age of basketball.
“It just sort of worked out that way to start,” Gardner said. “We like to shoot the 3, but the opportunities were elsewhere, and we did well taking what was given us in that first half.”
“That’s a really good team and a really, really good-coached team. A Dan Lunt-coached team is going to give you 32 minutes of battle, no matter what, and tonight it was 36 minutes. So this is a really good win for us.” — Skyridge coach Jeff Gardner
Although Skyridge appeared poised to cruise to a relatively easy win, Gardner knew better and implored his team at the half to get ready for far different Corner Canyon effort in the second half.
Turns out Gardner was dead on right.
The Chargers, led by both Joshua Chandler and Carter Welling on the inside, chipped away at the lead before consecutive 3-pointers from Peyton Call and Trace Ross cut the lead to 40-38 with just over two minutes remaining in the third quarter.
“We know that team and we knew that what we saw in the first half wasn’t them,” Gardner said. “We knew they’d come out much better in the second half, and they did exactly that. They worked to get some good looks and started hitting a lot of those open shots.”
Bringing the Chargers all the way back was Tate Staley, who hit two straight 3-pointers to give his team its first lead at 49-47 at the 3:53 mark of the fourth quarter.
But Gardner’s team didn’t panic and managed to score the final five points of regulation to tie things at 54-54 and send the game to overtime.
“We lost a lot of our pace offensively, but the guys stayed with it,” Gardner said. “We got some big stops and hit some big shots. So I’m just really proud of how they responded to all of it.”
“Trevon (Snoddy) just doesn’t make bad plays. He makes the right pass every time and then just makes big plays when we need him. He’s so steady for us defensively.” — Skyridge coach Jeff Gardner
Overtime proved tight until Snoddy stepped up to block a putback attempt with 15 seconds left, which soon turned into a lay-in by Reid for a 59-56 lead, which proved to be the final.
“Trevon just doesn’t make bad plays,” Gardner said. “He makes the right pass every time and then just makes big plays when we need him. He’s so steady for us defensively.”
Snoddy finished with 13 points and eight rebounds.
With the win, Skyridge improves to 10-3 on the year and 1-0 in Region 4 play.
“This was a great opportunity for our guys to get tested and I’m really proud of how they responded,” Gardner said. “It was against a really good team and yeah, you can take a lot from a win like this.”
As for Corner Canyon, it drops to 10-5 on the year and 0-1 in Region 4 play with the loss.