High school boys basketball: Thursday’s 5A semifinal recap, Bountiful and Olympus win semis to set up all-Region 6 championship

Here’s a recap of Thursday’s 5A semifinals at the University of Utah, with No. 8 seed Bountiful and No. 2 Olympus advancing to the championship.

Olympus 50, Highland 24

For the third consecutive year, Region 6 rivals Olympus and Highland met late in the state tournament after splitting their season series.

Now, for the third consecutive year, Olympus has beaten Highland and ended its season.

It was never particularly close in Thursday’s 5A semifinal between the rival schools, as Olympus clinched a chance at a third straight championship with a dominant 50-24 win.

“I love their kids, and we’ve done a lot of things together,” said Olympus head coach Matt Barnes. “(Highland head coach Chris) Jones and I are best friends, and it’s fun to play your friend, but they know us and knew it was going to be a war.”

Olympus is often known for being a high-scoring offensive team, but it earned Thursday’s win with dominant defense.

Highland was held to just 18% from the field, 9% from deep and shot 57% from the free throw line. Through all 32 minutes, the Rams scored only nine field goals.

Highland got shots off and certainly didn’t have luck on its side, but it also rarely got up an uncontested shot.

“We don’t get a lot of credit for our defense,” Barnes said. “Everyone talks about our shooting, our offense, or Gavin (Lowe). Obviously, they didn’t shoot it great, but I thought we had a little to do with it.

“We were long, we’re athletic, we kind of hemmed them in and made it hard on them. We locked in and focused in, and with as good as they are, to hold them below 20% is pretty special.”

Olympus never had its signature dominant offense, but it didn’t need it. It shot only 35% from the field, but it scored through multiple avenues.

Adam Bywater led the Titans’ scoring with 14 points, while Lowe and Davian Lazarus each scored 12.

In Olympus’ quarterfinal win over Springville, Lowe carried the offensive load with 40 points. The Titans coaching staff knew stopping Lowe would be a focus for Highland.

“Coach Jones, he’s a fantastic coach,” Barnes said. “He knows Gavin, he knows my guys and he knows how to make it hard on Gavin, so other guys had to step up.

“We were patient, and especially in the second-half, we got in the lane, drew them and then kicked it out and made shots.”

Olympus will see another familiar face in Region 6 foe Bountiful in Friday’s 5A championship game.

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Bountiful 52, Pleasant Grove 39

Bountiful established its offense in the paint and advanced to the 5A championship game with a 52-39 win over Pleasant Grove on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Pleasant Grove was held to just 12 points in the paint and shot 23% from the field as it had to grind out every single point it scored because the Redhawks’ defense was quick in its switching and fighting around screens.

“It’s probably been four weeks in a row where we’ve competed like that defensively,” Bountiful head coach Brett Hewlett said. “Every switch, every rotation made it tough on Pleasant Grove today.

“We held them to 39 points. I think that’s a good basketball team right there, so I couldn’t be more proud of the way they competed.”

The outside shots never consistently fell for Bountiful, but it didn’t matter because it attacked the paint early. The Redhawks scored 24 points in the paint in the first half for a 25-17 lead.

Bountiful also got out in transition and capitalized on turnovers.

It took until the fourth quarter for Bountiful to see a 3-pointer go in, but it couldn’t have come at a better time as Lincoln Smith connected on back-to-back shots from deep on out-of-bounds plays.

“We told them to attack the paint,” Hewlett said. “We got to the paint, we finished some tough shots, and then we knew eventually that ball was going to go through.

“They’re too good of shooters for it not to go through, and that’s the kind of that third, fourth quarter started to happen.”

Bountiful led through most of the semifinal, but Pleasant Grove made a push in the fourth and got within three points. From there, however, the Redhawks dominated.

It started with the out-of-bounds plays. Bountiful consistently got clean looks at 3-pointers or layups in the plays, most of which were scored by Smith.

Smith led all scorers with 31 points while pulling in six rebounds. Jaxon Brown and Brennan Blackett led the scoring charge for the Vikings with 15 and 12 points, respectively.

“He’s a stud. He’s an absolute stud,” Hewlett said of Smith. “That kid puts in more time than anyone I’ve ever seen.

“We talk about finding joy and making your teammates better and being obviously unselfish, so when someone gets it going, we’re gonna find him, and he came through for us when the stage was at its biggest.”

While Smith was scoring, Bountiful kept Pleasant Grove’s scoring at bay. The Vikings didn’t have a single field goal for the final 5:50 of the game.

Bountiful now has the chance to win its first state championship since 2015.

“It’s what these kids work so hard for,” said Hewlett. “You see the smile on their faces. It’s all about the kids. It’s not about me. It’s not about anybody else.

“It’s about the kids and the work they put in to see the community come out, the student body come out. It’s why you put in all the time as a coach and as players.”

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