High school boys basketball: Valley sails past Piute in 1A quarterfinal matchup

RICHFIELD — The Valley High School boys basketball team had little trouble with the Piute Thunderbirds Thursday in a 1A quarterfinals game.

Valley zapped the T-Birds 44-17 in the region foes’ third meeting of the season.

“Piute is a solid team that ended up third in the region,” said coach Owen Hoyt, who is in his fifth year coaching the Buffaloes.

“I think we did a really good job of being patient,” Hoyt said. “I emphasized that we need to end every possession with a good shot.”

The Buffaloes were able to do just that, working the perimeter and taking careful strikes at the basket.

On the defense side, Valley was able to key in on Piute’s outside game.

Valley 44, Piute 17

(Box score)

Leading scorers

Valley: Gavin Hoy, 13

Piute: Quade Gleave, 8

“I told the boys we couldn’t leave any open 3s,” Hoyt said. “Piute is a good shooting team and can get hot really quickly.”

Piute’s lone downtowner came early in the first half from Kelby Jessen.

Meanwhile, the Buffaloes had two players score in the double digits — Gavin Hoyt with 13 points and Casey Reck with 11.

Piute’s Jessen hit the first shot of the game and Valley’s Reck responded in kind. The next basket came from Piute’s Quade Gleave, who put a shot in from under the net. Then Valley’s Conner Chamberlain and Braden Heaton dropped in shots, helping secure a 7-4 first quarter edge.

Valley’s boys then set the tone for the rest of the game in the second stanza, as Gavin made two 3-pointers and two more from inside the arc. With another bucket from Chamberlain, Valley was up 19-9 and never looked back.

The Buffaloes entered the quarterfinals game after surviving a grueling triple overtime match against Milford the night before.

“I was a little concerned about the physical strength of our team after an emotional win, but they responded excellently,” Hoyt said.

The win propels Valley into the semifinals against Panguitch, another Region 20 rival.

“It’s a tough Region 20,” Hoyt said.

He said Panguitch went into Region 20’s tournament as the fourth seed. Panguitch ended up beating Valley, which had entered the tourney as the top-ranked team.

“We feel like it’s an opportunity to avenge a bad loss,” Hoyt said. “We fully expect an absolute battle. Panguitch is a familiar foe; they are very patient and extremely disciplined.”

Panguitch outlasted a rally attempt by Intermountain Christian earlier in the day to claim a 58-53 win and break into the semis.

The semifinal game between Valley and Panguitch is set for Friday at 8:30 p.m. at the Sevier Valley Center in Richfield.