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Show "ll ' ' Dameon Julander goes up for two in second-half action vs. Valley on Friday, Mar. 1 in Ogden. By John Yardley The Piute Thunderbirds won the Boys 1A State Basketball Championship Cham-pionship Saturday afternoon at the Dee Events Center at Weber State University. Behind a powerful scoring punch of Riley Roberts (19), Bryce Blackwell (19) and Lex Allen (17), the T-Birds won their first ever state title by defeating a tough Tabiona team 66-61. K. C. Torgerson, Gary Barben, Wade Westwood and Tom Bush also con -tributed greatly to the victory for Coaches Kennedy Sylvester and Quinn Newby. For the Garfield County teams, Panguitch had only a second day loss to Altamont in winning three times and finishing fifth. Escalante was 2-2 in the finals, which meant they were able to compete all four days. They finished in 8th place. In brief, Panguitch defeated Wendover the first day 64-44, but the game was a two-point affair until the last three minutes. Tyler Barney scored 19, Jeremy Withers 15 and Gaylen Dalton 11. The second day, PHS ran into 6-foot-7-inch T.J. Farns worth from Altamont who had 14 points and 12 blocks. The Bobcats had their worst game, missing one of the starters, Justin Miller. The force inside stopped Panguitch cold 59-41 59-41 after leading 21-17 at the half. Barney hit 13 and Dalton 10 in the loss. On Friday, Panguitch came back to eliminate a scrappy Valley team 50-43. Jeremy Withers scored 14, Justin Miller 1 1 and Tyler Barney 10. Saturday, Panguitch captured fifth place with a 58-57 win over Green River as Gaylen Dalton hit a free throw with 1 .6 seconds left and intentionally missed the second to put the game away for PHS. Photo By Jeff Richards Final: Panguitch 50, Valley 43. PHS won three times to the state tournament to capture fifth place. Piute Takes First Place At State; Bobcats Fifth, Moquis Eighth Panguitch led throughout the game, played the whole team and then pulled it out at the end. Tyler Barney led the way with 11 as Justin Miller and Dalton each hit 10. The free throw by "Dex" Dalton wa the icing on the cake. The Bobcats fared well in this year's tournaments, losing just once in Region and once at State. For a team not expected to be in the running, run-ning, they did very well. Besides those mentioned as top scorers, those playing in most games were John Hulet, Dameon Julander, Luke Yardley, Matt Tebbs and Scott Henrie. For Escalante, the Moquis lost the first game 49-40 against St. Joseph's. It was not the best effort for the boys in red and white. They shot a miserable 26 percent for the game. Ryan Cottam hit for 18 and Dusty Barnson scored a dozen. Escalante stopped Mt. Vemon 70-53 on Thursday as Garrett Cottam, errupted for 29 points, a sign of things to come for the Senior Center. Ryan Cottam tossed in 12. This was an easy win for EHS as they led 50-25 after three quarters. The Moquis got down early against Dugway, before coming back on Friday to win 65-55 65-55 and head for the consolation championship. Garrett fired in 3 1 , while Ryan drilled 23 as the Cottam boys made believers of the Dugway Proving Grounds fams. That is, they were very explosive! Saturday, Escalante played Wayne for consolation and played very well before losing 73-68. The Moquis battled the entire game against what may have been the best one or two teams in the tournament tour-nament in the tough Badgers. Garrett Cottam finished the tour- nament on a high note with 25, while Dusty Barnson found his range for 23 and Ryan Cottam banked in 12. Getting most of the action for the Moquis besides the aforementioned were Darius Jones, Matt Fullmer, Phillip Nelson and Jared Lyman. The Moquis had a fine season overall, despite a slump in mid year. Their huge win over Enterprise in Region was the real highlight. |