High school boys basketball: 3A semifinal recap, Morgan, Richfield advance to championship game

Here’s a recap of Tuesdays 3A semifinals at the UCCU Center in Orem.

Morgan 71, Juab 59

Morgan led from the opening tip and got the best of Juab 71-59 Tuesday night to advance to the 3A championship game.

“I thought we executed pretty well. We had all the guys contributing, whether they be starters or guys coming off the bench. We have a pretty long team. They made a run there in the second quarter so they made things tough on us, but the kids really executed when they had to,” said Morgan head coach Scott Hunt.

Morgan got a big second half from Bracken Saunders. He scored 19 points in the final two quarters and finished with a game-high 30.

While Morgan led throughout the game, Juab did not back down and was able to briefly cut the lead to one as the second quarter was drawing to a close and went into intermission down just three.

“It could have been easy to get frustrated. They won the second quarter and did a really good job of taking care of things in the paint. We switched to a zone defense in the second half which really helped us. The (halftime) message was that we know we’re good and we just have to execute, make some runs and draw some fouls,” Saunders said.

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After shooting 42% from the field in the first half, Morgan dialed in even more on offense and shot 52% in the second half. Morgan also got the job done from the free throw line by going 11 of 13 in the second half and 13 of 17 for the game.

“It feels really good,” Saunders said of advancing to the championship game. “This is something that we have been working towards all year.

“It was always next game, next game, next game and now we’re here and it’s a great accomplishment. It feels really good. We know we’re not done yet but we’ve had a great season and we’re really fortunate to be here.”

While Morgan has certainly had a successful and memorable season up to this point, Saunders knows there’s still one game to go.

“We just have to continue to do what we do,” he said. “We have to stick with our identity. We need to continue to apply a lot of defensive toughness and defensive pressure. We have to get back to securing the ball better. We got one more game, and if we can do those things we’ll have a good shot.”

Richfield 56, Judge Memorial 43

No. 3 Richfield punched its ticket to the 3A boys basketball championship game Tuesday night, getting the best of Judge 56-43.

Richfield got a clutch performance from Griffin Wayman, who had 26 points on the night.

“It was a really good battle. This time of the year, it just comes down to who is going to execute their stuff best. We were fortunate enough to do that tonight and the kids just battled for 32 minutes,” said Richfield head coach Rand Janes.

Richfield contained Judge with its stout defense for the better part of the game.

“The key for us was on the defensive side of the ball and making things really difficult for them,” Janes said. “Judge are an athletic group to play against and they do a really good job of getting to the basket.

“We had to make sure that if they got by our first guy that we rotated and tried to slow them down, so it was a good team defensive effort tonight. We also executed really well on offense and when you see the ball going in the basket it makes everything else easier.”

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In the first half Judge couldn’t buy a basket from the 3-point line, going 1 of 14, while Richfield found success by going 4 of 9. Richfield also was able to control the boards and outrebounded Judge 31-22 for the game.

With the win, Richfield finds itself in the 3A title game going up against top-seeded Morgan.

“I’m very proud of the kids and the way they’ve competed all year. They just get one more game to go and compete together and see what happens. We just have to go and play our best and see what happens from there,” Janes said.

In order to have a chance, Janes knows his team will need to put together another full 32-minute performance and match the intensity and energy that Morgan will no doubt bring.

“Scott Hunt does a great job with his team,” Janes said. “They got a big, athletic group. They execute their stuff really well so we’re going to have to play another 32 minutes of hopefully matching the intensity level and the execution on both sides of the floor.

“Morgan runs their sets well, they play at a high level and they got lots of guys that can score, so we’re going to have to do a good job of making it as hard as we can for them.”