Here’s a recap of Wednesday’s 4A quarterfinals at Southern Utah, with No. 12 Grantsville, No. 1 Morgan, No. 2 Richfield and No. 3 American Heritage advancing. This story will be updated.
American Heritage 57, Delta 37
It was fitting that American Heritage and Delta met in the 3A quarterfinals Thursday, as they faced each other in the first game of the season, with Delta pulling off the road win almost exactly three months ago today.
This time it was for a spot in the state semifinals.
American Heritage made it its mission to not let the previous result happen again, as it made what seemed like whatever it wanted at will in the first quarter in running out to a 25-5 lead.
In the first 12 minutes, American Heritage shot 83% from the field on 10 of 12 shooting, including 5 of 7 from behind the 3-point line.
James Matsen, the leading scorer in the 3A classification, already had 12 points at the end of the first quarter and finished with 16.
Josue Kajinga, who missed the first meeting between the two teams because of transfer rules, contributed seven points, three rebounds and two blocks.
“First of all, glory to God for sure and Jesus Christ. In the beginning of the year, we had no idea who they (Delta) were. We didn’t know their personnel. We didn’t know who we were as well,” said American Heritage coach Paora Winitana.
“We’ve been watching them, watching and scouting their last three games well. We knew what they wanted to do. What really made things work is that as the season went on we found out who we were.”
The second quarter was much the same as the first, with American Heritage keeping up its blitzing of the Rabbits by shooting a combined 76% in the first half, compared to 13% for the Rabbits.
Kade Anderson shot 4 of 6 from the 3-point line in the quarter, scoring 14 (he finished with a game-high 22) as the Patriots extended their lead to 40-9 at the half.
Delta got going a little bit in the third quarter, scoring 13 points (Kobe Driggs scored eight of those and finished with 10), but its deficit was still 50-23 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Rabbits also put together a 13-0 run in the fourth quarter but it was too little too late as the Patriots advanced to the semifinals.
“When the game got out of hand we needed to make sure we stayed healthy. I’m going to play my whole bench every single game. I don’t care if we lose or win the whole thing. All our players will play,” Winitana said.
“It’s so satisfying. Everyone practices as hard and does just as much. Our team is young and the experience of playing, especially in a playoff game, is awesome, especially with us always looking forward to the future.”
Richfield 54, Ogden 43
To seek revenge for last year’s championship game loss the Richfield Wildcats battle the Ogden Tigers in an attempt to return to the semifinals.
The 1st Quarter did not disappoint. With each team exchanging shots the largest lead of the quarter was only 4 points by the Ogden Tigers. Richfield had no repeat scorers in the quarter as they had five players scored 13 of their points. Both teams shot well over 50% in the quarter, showing just how efficient basketball each team is capable of.
What a difference a quarter can make. As both coaches emphasized that they needed to step up their defensive efficiency and not allow the easy looks that both teams were able to get in the 1st.
And both teams did just that with Richfield holding Ogden to just eight points in the second quarter on 30% shooting. Only making 3 of their 10 shots in the period. Richfield did not do much better going 4-12 from the field, but was boosted by three making three throws, two after Peter Archibald picked up a technical foul on the same play that Richfield was fouled on a three-point attempt. Southwick would only make 2 of the 5 attempts from the line but the team would grab the rebound of the last miss and make a layup with 1 second left to make the score at half 26-22 for Ogden.
“We knew this was going to be a tough, hard fought game out there. They really brought it for the 32 minutes of the game. Missing as many free throws as we did tonight (16-29) did not help at all. So well work at that. Just proud of the way these kids battled.” Richfield coach Rand Janes stated.
Jorgen Southwick was the offensive anchor for the Wildcats in the second and 3rd quarters scoring 10 straight points for the Wildcats to keep his team in this tightly contested game. The 3rd quarter was more the same as the second quarter with a strong defensive identity to the same for both sides. Richfield was able to hold Ogden to just two field goals in the 3rd to go along with five made three throws for the Tigers. Offensively the Wildcats were able to get the only score from the team from the duo of Nash Spell and Jorgen Southwick who contributed 5 points and 6 respectively to maintain the lead at 37-32 for Richfield.
The 4th quarter is when the Wildcats would pull away thanks again to Jorgen Southwick. Southwick scored 19 points on the day thanks to a gutsy and hard-fought game. Fighting to get to the rim and was able to convert nine free throws on the night and 23 points total for the game in the Wildcats 54-43 win.
“Southwick did a great job for us and staying aggressive, credit to him and the work that he has put in. His effort was great. Just need to clean up some things for tomorrow as a team. Its survive and advance from here on out,” Said Janes
“Proud of my group we had today. This was a hard fought game and the first day of the state tournament is always the hardest. Just proud of the way we competed.
Morgan 67, Canyon View 43
The Morgan Trojans advanced to their second straight semifinal appearance in an attempt to win back-to-back titles.
Playing against the hometown Canyon View Falcons in front of a packed crowd cheering for both Canyon View and Morgan, the Falcons pulled out all the stops in the first quarter thanks to Jack Meyers’ 8 points on 4 of 8 shooting.
The Falcons were able to go toe for toe with the No. 1 seeded Trojans but Morgan’s balanced attack was able to keep the game essentially tied, with the Falcons leading 14-13 at the end of the first.
Morgan then proved why it is deserving of the top overall seed, hounding the Falcons on the defensive side and limiting the Falcons to only making three shots, and scoring six points, on 33% shooting in the second quarter.
Again, the balanced attack of the Trojans, who have four players averaging double-digits on the season put, in work. Morgan shot 6 of 9 in the quarter for 66% and grabbed the eight-point lead at 28-20 thanks to five different players making their shots.
“It was a very physical game. I’m glad that they were able to play. With (Bracken) Saunders, they were trying to box and one him with different gimmick defenses. He did a great job handling it. They were very physical on him. It was hard to get anything going there for a second offensively,” said Morgan coach Scott Hunt. “We need to get better at that.”
In the third quarter, the Falcons were able to bring the game closer thanks to three made free throws by Jeter Saunders and a quick layup from Jack Meyer. But a timely timeout by Hunt put an end to that, as the Trojans outscored the Falcons 11-3 in the last five minutes of the quarter to extend their lead to 12.
The Trojans put the game away in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Falcons 24-12 to seal the win thanks to a massive defensive effort. They limited Canyon View to 35% shooting in the fourth quarter and 39% in total for the game.
Bracken Saunders put his team on his back, scoring 13 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter alone.
“We really thrive and are proud of our defensive effort. Our defense is pretty solid,” Hunt said.
Grantsville 79, Emery 75
What started out as a quick start for the Emery Spartans quickly turned into an evenly matched battle to open quarterfinal play in Cedar City.
The first game of the day did not disappoint, with the No. 12 seeded Grantsville Cowboys pulling off their second straight upset of the tournament, upsetting the No. 4 seeded Spartans 79-75 in overtime.
It was an evenly distributed attack by the Cowboys with six players contributing on the scoring end. Dresden Jensen tied his season high in points with 23 and had nine rebounds, giving the Cowboys a near double-double in the win.
“That’s just who we are, we know we are that team and so often we are helping each other. Just be us. We usually just say if someone is struggling to step in, but today we had everyone stepping up,” said Cowboys coach Stace Riding. “It’s awesome to be able to have that many people stepping up and scoring in double figures.”
Emery started out the gates quickly with a 11-0 start to the game before the Cowboys called a timeout to gather themselves and keep calm. Grantsville quickly turned the 11-point deficit into a four-point deficit to end the quarter with a score of 19-14.
In a back-and-forth second quarter, the Cowboys were able to grab their first lead of the game off of a Cole Sparks 3-pointer with 35 seconds remaining in the half before Brek Griffin was able to end the half for the Spartans with a quick layup to make the game 31-30 at the half.
Jaxxon Jensen was also crucial for the Cowboys with a near triple-double for the Cowboys. He scored 11 points to go along with nine assists and 11 rebounds.
“It’s a kid like Jensen that any coach would love. He’s unselfish a lot of the time, where he passes more than he shoots. I’ve begged him in the zone to shoot the ball more, be more of a threat in the middle and today he was able to do just that,” Riding said.
Going into the fourth quarter, the Cowboys had a slim two-point lead and knew they needed to keep up the pressure to secure another upset and advance to their first semifinal appearance since 2023.
Dresden Jensen decided to take matters into his own hands in the fourth quarter, scoring nine of his 23 points in the quarter along with a game-leading dunk with 30 seconds remaining in the quarter. However, Garrett Conover was able to score the game-tying free throw with five seconds remaining to send the game into overtime.
Tied at 61 going into overtime, the Spartans’ Griffin needed to be contained, as he had 23 points going into the overtime period and was trouble for the Cowboys defense all game long. He did end the game with 30 points, which is a career high, but it wasn’t enough for the Spartans after five straight made free throws for the Cowboys sealed the 79-75 win.
“I could not be more proud of the guys today. They battled through injuries this year and kept fighting. Mentally, they were able to stay in the game and I could not ask for more,” Riding said.