High school boys basketball: Westlake gets historic win over Bingham for 1st-ever state championship

In 1995, then-Alta head coach Ron Carling led the Hawks to a state championship with a win over Layton. It was a particularly special win because Carling won it with his son Nate on the roster.

Nate Carling has been at the helm of the Westlake Thunder for 12 years. In the 17 years since the school’s doors were first opened, it’s never won a boys team sport state championship.

That changed on Friday night, 31 years after Nate Carling won state with his dad — and this time, Ron Carling was on the bench with his son as an assistant.

The Thunder beat the Bingham Miners 71-55 at the Huntsman Center.

“It’s so special because there’s a lot of hard work, a lot of long hours, a lot of tears we shed together,” Nate Carling said. “He’s just always had my back. He’s always believed in me. It’s really special, actually. It means the world to me.”

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The Thunder, historically, haven’t had many expectations late in seasons. This year was different.

Westlake was the top seed and had championship expectations. It was the clear top-dog in Region 2, but it lost an outright region title by losing its last two regular-season games.

The sudden losses gave Westlake a chance to calm down and reflect before jumping into the state tournament.

“Things happen for a reason,” Nate Carling said. “Some teams exposed some things on us a little bit. We had to rethink how we were doing things, and just get the feel of what it’s like to lose. You don’t like that feeling, and you got to remember what it feels like.”

One thing was abundantly clear in Friday’s championship: Westlake had to figure out how to slow down Luke West.

West is the Miners’ all-time leading scorer and passed former BYU star Yoeli Childs for Bingham’s single-season scoring record. He’s been the engine behind Bingham’s postseason run.

West had back-to-back double-doubles in the quarterfinals and semifinals, while scoring a combined 74 points in both. Westlake made sure to switch and face guard West through most of the 32 minutes Friday, and the strategy worked as he scored just 14 points on 4 of 15 shooting.

Bingham’s other dynamic scorer, Parker Snedaker, was also held to 15 points on 5 of 15 shooting.

“Slone Sua, Walker Jensen were fantastic on (West),“ Nate Carling said. ”We switched everything, so everybody had a chance. I think collectively, we just didn’t give him any breathing room."

Meanwhile, Westlake’s Brody Thompson and Graydin Anderson put on a scoring showcase.

Thompson was extremely efficient and productive all night. He ended with 24 points while shooting 78% from the field. He was a perfect 4 of 4 in the first half and scored 12 points through 16 minutes.

“I had a slow start to the whole thing, didn’t score that much,” Thompson said. “But, just building confidence, having my teammates trust me, my coaches trust me, it felt great.”

Anderson was more slow-going in the first half, but was an offensive weapon in the second. He scored 18 points in the second half, including a buzzer-beater 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter for a 51-39 lead.

A double-digit lead late in a game is significant, but Thursday’s semifinal between the Miners and American Fork showed that no lead is safe against Bingham.

On Friday, the Miners got to the free-throw line, while Snedaker and Denzel Peoples connected on 3-pointers to bring it back within 56-51.

With its first-ever state championship on the line, Westlake responded with a 10-0 run to put Bingham away. The run all got started by another big 3-pointer from Anderson.

Anderson ended the championship with 22 points.

“This is the thing I dream of my whole life,” Anderson said. “As a kid, I just dream of hitting those kinds of shots, so I’ll remember that the rest of my life.”

Prior to Friday, the only team championships Westlake had ever won were in girls wrestling and competitive cheer, but now the boys finally have a banner to hang.

Nate Carling said he takes pride that his team won the title with homegrown talent.

“It gives me a lot of hope for high school sports,” he said. “There’s a lot of stuff that goes on that I don’t love, but I’m really proud that we did it the right way.

“We did it with kids that love each other and a community that loves them. It’s pretty special that way.”

Deseret News 6A All-Tournament Team

MVP — Brody Thompson, Westlake

Graydin Anderson, Westlake

Malik Sika, Westlake

Luke West, Bingham

Parker Snedaker, Bingham

Jax Clark, American Fork