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Show West whips Braves in Icey region battle By DIRK FACER Sports Editor SALT LAKE CITY Tournament Tour-nament time came early for the Bountiful Braves and West Panthers. Pan-thers. While the 3A state playoffs are not scheduled to begin until next week, both the Braves and Panthers find themselves desperately trying to secure invitations to prep basketball's basket-ball's "big dance." The paths of the two Region Six rivals crossed Friday night with Bountiful seeking to clinch a state berth with a win and West fighting for postseason existence. O i w Friday. Feb 21 BOUNTIFUL (7-6, 9-10) 10 17 91854 West (7-6, 10-9) 17 13 20 2272 O BRAVES (54): Jacobs 4 0-1 10. Jones 2 2-3 7, MacKay 2 1-6 5, Robbins 0 1-3 1, Beck 2 0-0 5, Jeppson 2 0-0 4, O'Brien 4 2-4 110. Hibbert 0 4-4 4, Adams 4 0-0 8. Totals 20 10-21 10-21 54. PANTHERS (72): Adams 0 2-3 2. Stepan 11 7-8 29, S. Johnson 6 0-1 16, Gridley 1 0-0 2, Powell 3 3-4 9, Gaddis 3 0-1 6, Byrd 1 1-2 4, Tinker 1 0-0 2. Chanchez 1 0-0 2, Totals 27 13-20 72. Three-point goals Bountiful 4 (Jacobs 2. Jones, Beck), West 5 (S. Johnson 4, Byrd). And when the battle was complete, com-plete, the Panthers were given a new lease on life with a 72-54 victory vic-tory over the lackluster Braves. "There was a lot riding on itthe last playoff spot," said West coach Bob Lyman. "We haven't won big all year. Bountiful shoots so well and I didn't feel comfortable until there were two minutes left. You can never let up on Bountiful. ' ' Despite the nail-biting, the night belonged to the Panthers. "They wanted it worse than we did," said Bountiful coach Mike Maxwell. "They came out strong and we came out flat. We just didn't do the job. ' ' West jumped out to a 14-4 lead with 2:37 remaining in the first quarter before Bountiful arose from its game-opening slumber. Later, a 9-0 run which extended from the opening stanza into the second period erased the deficit However, after knotting the score at 17-all, Bountiful once again fell behind the feisty Panthers, who led 30-27 at halftime. Emotions ran high throughout the contest as the intensity level grew. Unfortunately for Bountiful, the Panthers shifted to overdrive, while the Braves were stuck in first gear. squads are joined by Granite in a logjam for the remaining two playoff slots with 7-6 region records. (Clipper photo by Roger Tuttle) ROUNDBALL SLUGFEST: Emotions ran high during Boun-tiful's Boun-tiful's league loss at West Friday. With state tournament berths ber-ths on the line, the action was intense and physical. Both Two three-point baskets by Sam Johnson, to open the second half, marked the beginning of the end for Bountiful. "Johnson hit two big threes and that killed us," said Maxwell. "He did what he needed to do." Johnson finished with 16 points and teammate Chris Stepan led all scorers in the emotional contest with 29. Mason Jacobs and Dustin O'Brien shared team-high honors for Bountiful with 10 apiece. The Braves (7-6), now tied with Granite and West for the two re maining playoff berths, get a chance to redeem themselves Tuesday at home against Judge Memorial (2-11). A win sends Bountiful to next week's 3A tournament at Weber State. A loss would force a special playoff game against the loser of Tuesday's Granite-West game. Simply put, the Braves still control con-trol their own destiny. "That kind of broke their backs," said Lyman. West outscored the Braves 20-9 in the quarter to take control of the once-tight contest. Leading 50-36, the Panthers were never seriously challenged in the fourth quarter. In fact, West continued con-tinued to add to its advantage throughout the period and held its biggest lead of the game at 68-44 with 1:39 to play. Top-ranked Vikes do it again Layton before ending the regular season Wednesday, March 4 at home against rival Davis. NORTH OGDEN At best, the action was sloppy Friday Fri-day night; however, for the top-ranked top-ranked Viewmont Vikings a win is a win, is a win, is a win. The unbeaten Vikings improved their Region One mark to 9-0 with a 64-45 victory over the Weber Warriors. After taking a 13-9 lead at the end of the first period, the Vikings Vik-ings were unable to shake off the pesky Warriors. Weber outscored Viewmont 14-13 in the second period to close the deficit to 26-23 at halftime. However, the Vikes broke away in the third stanza by outscoring the hosts 21-11. Viewmont padded its 47-34 lead with a 17-11 advantage in the fourth period, Jarcd Peterson, in his second game back after missing four contests with an ankle injury, led the Vikes with 12 points. Alex Jensen and John Robison each added 11 and Andy Jensen 10 as Viewmont improved to 1 7-0 overall. The Vikings host second-place second-place Bonneville on Tuesday. On Friday, the Vikes travel to FfWay, Fe3 21 VIEWMONT 9-0, 17-0) 1313 211 764 Weber 3-7, 4-14) 9141111 -45 VIKINGS (64): Pitt 2 1-2 5 Robison 3 5 6 11, Peterson 5 0-0 12, Larsen 1 0-0 2, Cutlet 1 1 2 3, Alex Jensen 4 2-2 11, Andy Jensen 5 0-1 1 0. Faux 3 2-2 8, Martin 1 0-1 2, Totals 25 11-16 11-16 64. WARRIORS (45): Burke 3 0-0 S. Dougher 3 0-2 6, Chatelain 1 3-6 5, Rhees 2 7-9 12 Christorferson 3 4-6 10, Johnson 2 0-0 4. White 1 0-0 2, Totals 15 14-23 45. Three-point goals Viewmont 3 (Peterson 2, Alex Jensen 1), WeSer 1 (Rhees). |