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Show Thursday, March 10, 2005 Page A7 Box Elder buzzer-beater knocks Orem out of the state tournament Times Newspaper ft 00 DM LANDON OLSON Time Sport Editor OGDEN - Orem already knows exactly how Box Elder feels, but the Tigers now know how American Fork feels as well. A game after beating the Caveman on a buzzer beater to advance in the state tournament, Own went down the same way after the Bees hit an improbable shot as time expired for a 41-38 victory Friday at the Dee Events Center. "What do we say? We won on one of those, we lost on one of those," said Orem coach Mike Conner. With only a half second left on the clock, Box Elder inbounded from the far side, getting the ball to Cameron Brown in the corner who turned and threw up the 3-point shot.. To the shock of the Tigers it dropped. "It was a great defensive defen-sive game. Both teams played really, really hard. They got a little bit lucky at the end like we did Wednesday night," Conner said. The shot capped a late fourth quarter rally for the Bees, who trailed Orem (15-8) for most of the period. Up 32-31 entering the fourth, Orem scored quickly quick-ly on a layup by Blake Johnson, but Box Elder (21-3) also answered inside. Tanner Lamb put Orem up three with a pair of free throws, but again the Bees matched that$ With four minutes to play, Craig Cusick sunk a 15-foot jumper pushing push-ing the cushion cush-ion back up to three, at 38-35. 38-35. The Tigers had a chance to take the lead to five after a couple of steajs, but a missed dunk attempt, a turnover and a missed front end on a one-and-one left it at three. "We were up 3 and we got the steal and turned it over at half court," Conner '-1 1VP J ' I'' " .? '&t photo by I.andon OitnlTimt Strwpaper Tiger forward Bryan Gonzalez (21) drives in against Box Elder's Jordan Brinkerhoff during Friday's game. Gonzalez chipped In four points off the bench. s said. "I kind of felt like that turned it. We've got to give them credit. I thought we were good defensively. They were every bit as good as we were." Bfsx Elder finally scored on a putback, then tied the game on a free throw with 1:34 remaining. Trying to hold for the last shot, the Tigers were fouled but again missed another front end, this time with 40.4 seconds left. Box Elder then was holding on for the last shot, nearly turning ball over but getting inbound chance in final second. Despite going only 5-for- the the the 24 from the field in the first half, the Tigers stayed close. Orem took an 8-5 lead after Tanner lamb scored inside before Box Elder used a 6-0 run to fight ahead 11-8. A 3 by Chris Lee put Box Elder up 14-10, but Lamb converted a three-point three-point play with 2.8 seconds sec-onds in the quarter to make it 14-13 entering the second. The Tigers only got one field goal a fade-away jumper by Bryan Gonzalez, but hit five free throws to take the lead 20-19, 20-19, then hit another pair to tie the game after a 3 by Lee. The Bees got back on top when Jeremy Ormsby hit a 3 at the end of the continued on Page A8 I u3 "team pholo by I.andon OhimlJimn Sempaper The Bruin bench looks on as Mountain View shoots free throws late In the game. Bees erase 15-point Bruin lead, down Mountain View in overtime LANDON OLSON Times Sports Editor OGDEN Bryan Dickinson has made a habit of hitting big shots for the Bruins over the past few years, and behind his heroics Mountain View has pulled out some close wins. Against Box Elder in the second round of the state tournament, it looked like that would happen again, as Dickinson drilled a 3 from the comer to send the game to overtime, but thats where the Bruins' run would end. V tu n i Li Mountain View 11-1 in the extra period, claiming a 66-56 victory at the Dee Events Center March 2. Up by 15 midway through the third and ahead 45-35 entering the fourth, it appeared the Bruins would be able to hold on and advance. A shooting percentage of .654 will change that though. Box Elder (20-3) was definitely hot in the second half, hitting 17-26 shots and battling back to take a 51-50 51-50 lead with 2:20 remaining. "It wasn't like they were wide open," said Bruin coach Jason Young. "We were right there and they just still stuck their shots and did a heck of a job right at the end." After Evan Astle made a pair of free throws to give the Bruins (17-5) the lead back, Box Elder scored four straight, going up three and forcing Dickinson to hit the big shot to send the game to overtime. But even then, it didn't get any better for Mountain View as the Bees kept dropping drop-ping in shots. Box Elder scored the first two buckets, then after a Bruin free throw, built a comfortable cushion by getting layups to close out the game. They hit some and ours just didn't go down there for a while," Young said. In the first half it was the Bruins hitting, hit-ting, as the game started very promising when A.J. Millet drained a 3 on the opening possession to put Mountain VVf w v w View in control. Astle was able to get points inside, especially espe-cially with the outside .shooting opening things up. The Bruins closed the quarter on a 9-0 run to take a 17-8 lead into the second and held that margin into halftime. Then to open the third, Millet hit two more 3s, making it 39-24. The Bruins stayed up 15 after Peter Tuitupou scored inside midway through the quarter, but that's when the Bees started coming back. Seven straight points, including two 3s, nearly halved the margin before Astle hit a pair of free throws to push the lead back to 10 going into the fourth. Box Elder's Chris a v led the comeback, scoring 18 points and hitting four 3s. For the Bruins, Astle scored 16 points and had four rebounds in the final game of his career. Millet was also in double figures with 12. No strangers to overtime, the Bruins were able to pull out victories three t imes early in the season. A lot of the Bruins success came due to outside shooting, as they hit 1 1 7 3s during the season, averaging 5.3 per game. Millet had a team high 38 while Andrew Bateman had 28. Mountain View had seven seniors on this year's squad that finished second in Region VII. Astle, Millet and Dickinson will all be leaving, as will Batemah, John Belliston, Daniel Morris and Abe King. "That's a very good group of kids," Young .-laid. "They're going to be very successful suc-cessful in their lives because of their character char-acter and hard work and their heart is right inside them." This was the second straight year the Bruins were knocked out in a close game in the quarterfinals, losing to American Fork last year. With the win, Box Elder earned a game against Orem in the semifinals. semi-finals. ..' P' A J if, p 'c ft f ijvfc J f " 41 - - - - -vr-4 ..M - - 1 " Saift SUDORS -; - rK A 7 i i 1 0 sN "'v " ,r pbon by I.andon (HnlTimn Srmpaprt ABOVE: Orem's Tanner Lamb goes to the ground In the first half while fighting for a loose ball against Box EWer during last Friday's state tournament game. LEFT: Bruin guard Taylor Williams (3) elevates for a Jumper during the first half against the Bees. Williams had eight points, Including a pair of 3s. RIGHT: Daniel Morris leaves the court after Mountain View was stunned by Box Elder's comeback In the second half. Morris Is one of seven seniors for the Bruins. I - 7" C !!7"''Aj V 4 is. f r OPY |