High school boys basketball: Rivals Highland and Olympus win big in 5A semis, set for championship showdown

Here’s a recap of the 5A semifinals at the University of Utah on Wednesday.

Highland 65, Brighton 46

There may not have been a more confident team around than the Highland boys basketball team Wednesday.

Coach Chris Jones said his team has had plenty of explosive moments all season and they showed it again in the 5A semifinals at the Jon M. Huntsman Center, using a 10-0 scoring spurt in the fourth quarter to turn away Brighton 65-46.

With the win, Highland improved to 24-3 and advanced to Friday’s state championship game, where it will play another region rival — Olympus — for a chance to earn its first title since 2011.

“We just had to let the ball game come to us and build on it,” said Jones, who is in his third season at Highland and took the Rams to semis in 2024. “We didn’t to get bullied. We went out instead and competed.”

The Rams tied Olympus for the region title, but one of its losses was a 46-42 match on Brighton’s home floor in late January.

Highland made sure that didn’t happen this time. The Rams shot nearly 60% from the field, and made 11 of 22 (50%) 3-pointers. They out-dueled Brighton in almost every statistical category but still the game was in doubt when the Bengals closed to within 43-38 early in the fourth quarter.

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Then everything changed.

Bodie Dodge scored a basket, then Soren Ries and Jack Anderton followed. The 6-foot-9 Ries followed with a dunk and a rebound basket and Anderton made another 3-pointer. Suddenly, Highland’s lead grew to 19 points and Brighton deflated.

For the Bengals, it was the end of a dream. They surprised Juan Diego in the first round and then upset Orem 55-53 Tuesday. Coach Tim Gardner said his squad was running on a lot of adrenaline, returning to the Huntsman Center a day later.

Gardner said the Bengals are on a path to be a 5A contender. Still, it would have likely needed a miracle to get through the path of the good team that awaited them after a fourth place region finish and a No. 9 seed.

“We knew Highland would be tough,” he said. “We doubled down on them but they hit their shots. We’ll learn from this. Every year, we’ve taken a step forward … just like Highland has done. We’ll get our chance.”

Josh Mawhinney led Brighton with 16 points, including 12 in the second half. Bradley Eason added 13.

Ries was Highland’s primary star. He got several nice passes from Anderton and Isaiah Drisdom and made 8-11 shots. He also pulled down 10 rebounds. Anderton finished with 15 and Hodge 9.

Olympus 76, Timpview 58

Timpview tried to get into a 3-point shooting contest with Olympus on Wednesday night at the University of Utah, which backfired badly.

No. 2 Olympus made its first 3-pointer of the game and never really slowed down making 14 total as it rolled past No. 3 Timpview with an emphatic 76-58 victory in the 5A semifinals.

Final tally, Olympus was 14 of 24 from 3-point range while Timpview only made 4 of 29. The final percentages, 58% to 13%.

The 14 3s weren’t quite a season high for Olympus — it made 15 twice earlier this season — but the percentage was its best of the season.

Davian Lazarus made 5 of 9, Luke Owen 4 of 4, with Gavin Lowe and Caden Jackson each making two and Ty Goldsberry one.

“I was just proud of how comfortable, calm, confident we were, and we just kind of did our thing and started really well,” said Olympus coach Matt Barnes, whose team never trailed in the game.

Lowe finished with a game-high 22 points to go along with his eight assists and six rebounds. Lazarus added 17 points, Owen 16 and Jackson 14.

Most of Lowe’s eight assists were on kick-offs to open shooters behind the 3-point line.

“Gavin is such a tough cover, if you’re going to help off and help on Gavin, which you have to do, guys got to make shots. And he just started the game, great for us, and then we kind of got it going,” said Barnes.

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Olympus’ coaching staff wasn’t quite sure how good this year’s team would be with Lowe the only returning player with experience, but 23 wins later the team will now play Highland in the 5A state championship game against region foe Highland at 7:30 p.m.

“These guys just they watched and they learned and they bought in, and as soon as it was their turn, they came in, and we had a great spring of summer,” said Barnes. “To have the season we’ve had and beat the teams we beaten and make the run, it’s awesome. But it’s a credit to them.”

In Olympus’ quarterfinal win over Springville, it protected the perimeter much better, but the Titans went off for 40 points in the paint and only six 3-pointers. Those stats flipped on Wednesday, with only 18 points in the paint but 24 more points from behind the arc.

Lazarus got it started by making his two 3-pointers to give Olympus a quick 13-3 lead at the 4:33 mark.

Timpview could never get it back to single digits as Olympus led 18-8 at the first quarter, 33-23 at the half and then 52-34 heading into the fourth.

Olympus made 7 of 10 3s in the first half, but Timpview responded well in the second quarter by attacking the basket, getting to the free-throw line and keeping it relatively close — not to mention getting two Olympus starters in foul trouble.

Unfortunately for Timpview, the Titans' barrage of 3s didn’t slow down as it made seven more in the second half.

Olympus can now turn its attention to region rival Highland. The teams met twice in region play, with the road team winning tight games each time. Olympus won by 1 and Highland won by 3.