PRICE — South Sevier got clutch play down the stretch from Brennan Hunt, Brandt Williams and Karson Hunt to stave off a second-half rally by Delta for the 48-45 victory at USU Eastern on Saturday night.
With the win, South Sevier advances to the quarterfinals next Thursday at SLCC and will face No. 2 seed Emery.
The Rams led 23-12 at the half, but the Rabbits came roaring back and had a chance to tie the game with a late 3-pointer attempt that missed with eight seconds remaining.
“It was awesome to see our boys buckle down and grind out the win. Even when we got down, they battled back and came away with a big win,” said South Sevier coach Carson Christensen.
Hunt led South Sevier with 19 points and finished 10 for 10 from the free-throw line. Williams added 11 points and eight rebounds.
Delta’s Derek Smith recorded a double-double with 25 points and 11 rebounds, but he only had eight points in the first half as South Sevier took the early lead.
“The game plan was to take away Derek Smith. Our boys did just that in the first half. We were able to give ourselves a good lead going into the half. We knew Smith was going to come out and play and do whatever he could to bring his team back. Our boys stuck to the game plan and worked their tails off,” said Christensen.
Here’s a recap of the other second-round games at USU Eastern on Saturday:
Judge Memorial 62, Carbon 36
Judge Memorial raced to a 17-4 lead after the first quarter and rolled from there for the easy 3A second-round win as Deng Mayar recorded 22 points and 13 rebounds, and Got Daw chipped in with 21 points.
San Juan 67, Summit Academy 54
San Juan used a big second quarter to open up a 10-point halftime lead on Summit Academy and it never looked back on its way to the victory. Randall Flavel recorded 20 points and nine rebounds to lead San Juan, with Jaxon Torgerson chipping in with 18 points and seven assists.
Manti 60, North Sanpete 44
Top-seeded Manti used a strong second half to pull away from upset-minded North Sanpete in the 3A second round. Travis Thomson paced the Templars with 19 points, with Konner Clark adding 12 points.
Grantsville 66, American Leadership 45
Grantsville jumped out to a quick 20-9 lead in the first quarter on its way to the easy victory. Jackson Sandberg and Davin Ekins both scored 14 points to lead the Cowboys as they advance to the quarterfinals.
Emery 69, Grand 42
Brax Jensen scored a game-high 34 points, 15 of which came from behind the arc, while teammate Justin Rasmussen grabbed 12 rebounds as the Spartans cruised to a dominant win over the Red Devils.
Richfield 62, South Summit 57
Richfield sunk 19 free throws compared to South Summit’s six, which ended up making all the difference as Richfield clinched the playoff victory. Josh Thalman scored 19 points while teammate Emmitt Hink added another 14 for Richfield in the win.
Morgan 61, Juab 45
Seth Hadley scored a game-high 14 points while Branson Saunders and Carter Thackeray added 10 points apiece to lift Morgan to the victory over Juab in the 3A second round.