In what turned out to be a slugfest between two of the top teams in 5A, Olympus clawed their way past Alta 60-56.
Olympus was led by standout Gavin Lowe who had a dominant performance with a game-high 31 points on the night.
Coby Goodfellow and Nash Lundberg led the fight for Alta with 15 and 12 points respectively.
“We were down by seven early in the fourth, but we made a basketball and got the press going a little bit. We turned them over two or three times and eventually were able to tie the game up,” said Olympus head coach Matt Barnes. “It was back and forth and Gavin is our leader. He’s our guy and we play through him. He made some big shots and made some big plays for us.”
It was an impressive offensive display by both teams in the first half, with teams trading buckets and keeping the intensity high throughout. The game slowed down quite a bit in the second half, with both teams getting the job done defensively.
“Our defense was really solid. We just kind of let things happen and were able to trust each other. We got size, length and athleticism. We just got to continue to lock it down, but give the boys credit for getting the job done,” Barnes said. “They played well, executed, made shots and caused them to miss some in the fourth quarter, allowing us to pull the win out.”
Barnes loved the fight that he saw from his team. Olympus trailed for a big portion of the first half, but they were able to keep Alta within arm’s reach, allowing Barnes to make halftime adjustments and get the momentum on his side.
Olympus hasn’t had a lot of close games yet this season and with a lot of new faces, it was a good game to see how the team would handle the pressure.
“We have to consistently be tough. We talked to them about toughness. We got a lot of new guys and we’re 12-14 games into the season, still learning and trying to figure things out. We need to learn how to handle ourselves in that situation and how to lock it down,” Barnes said.
With still plenty of games left in the season, Barnes knows that while his team has had some impressive wins, they are far from the finished product and will need to continue to be laser-focused as they get deeper into region play.
“We’re going to have to be a little more efficient,” he said. “All of the guys are stepping up and playing well. We just have to worry about us. Gavin can’t do it all and other guys are going to have to make plays too.”