OCR Text |
Show ' mu I Ill , , i i:Vf.,t-,; :- - ' ,..y.r? f The Panguitch Bobcats lost this one to Tabiona, setting themselves up for the next day's game with the Bryce Valley Mustangs which turned out to be a By John Yardley Last Friday , night in the state finals in Cedar City, Bryce Valley and Panguitch played the classic game of the new century ... even throw in the old one if you want to. Total effort. Splendid coaching. Pressure shooting. Physical exhaustion. ex-haustion. Double overtime. Too bad it could not be called a draw. Two teams playing their very best. A wild crowd a splendid crowd v- and finally, a spent crowd and two spent teams. Bryce Valley led 29-28 after one. Panguitch was up 47-46 at the half. It was tied 57-57 after three periods. It was still tied 67-67 67-67 after regulation and 74-74 after the first overtime period. In all of this there were numerous heroes for each side. For Bryce Valley, Shannon Shan-non Pollock slashing and cutting for 16 before fouling out in the fourth quarter. Lucas Ramsay nailing 15 under incredible pressure in the fourth period and overtimes. Cole Twitchell and Skyler Syrett nearly perfect from the free throw line and doing the job in the paint. Keith Hughes and Damon Brinkerhoff coming off the bench to hit big shots and maintaining intensity. Then, there was Wayne Ott. Ott penetrated and dipped and scooped and scored time after time after time. Nobody could stop him the final buzzer was the only reason he quit. He went for 29 points and established himself as perhaps the finest pure point guard in the tournament. For Panguitch, there was Skyler Dallon and Jaycen Walter and Acey Burningham and Adam Howard and Mark Tebbs and Bracken Englestead each with a particular piece of contribution that was timely and critical. And then there was Dusty Orton. Hounded and harassed by the Tabiona crowd the night before and jeered in this game too, Dusty hit from high and low and in and out and up and down and, oh yes, from the free throw line 14 for 16 and finished the game with a dazzling 41 points! Well, alas, it all came down to the final seconds of the second overtime and senior Jaycen Waller calmly sank two free throws to give Panguitch the win, 79-77 in double overtime. Missed chances, incredible incredi-ble comebacks, intense effort by classic, easily one of the best-played games of the State Tournament in Cedar City where Panguitch ultimately took fifth place. Bobcats v. Mustangs Was a Classic both teams and it all finally ended. Terrific game. One of the best ever played by both sides. A classic. Well, they also played the rest of the tournament in Cedar City at the Centrum. Green River won the final and the championship over Milford rather easily 54-39. They were the toast of the tournament by any standard. They were the best this past week and have been the best all year. Stan Parson's team's only loss came lo 3A Emery. Piute beat Tabiona 65-60 for third and fourth. Panguitch got a stellar performance from Skyler Dalton and Dusty Orton, scoring 17 and 19 respectively, and got a huge surge of energy off their bench to defeat Altamont 56-51 to capture fifth place. Rich edged Valley 61-60 in overtime to claim sixth place. Altamont was seventh and Valley eighth. This was a great state tournament. The new "play-in" system eliminated most" of the "patsy"- type games. Every team, every opponent provided a contest worth watching. There were two double overtimes and one overtime. over-time. There were good crowds and there was excitement every day. Bryce Valley opened the tournament tourn-ament with a classy 52-45 win over Waterford. They lost the second day after an outstanding game 66-60 to Milford. They had their chances, but Milford was tough. Shannon went for 22, Wayne Ott for 16, Lucas Ramsay for 10 and Cole Twitchell for 11. Skyler Syrett scored four and played well. Panguitch beat a good Rich team 49-43 the first day as they hit 9 of 12 critical free throws down the stretch to win. They lost to Tabiona Tabi-ona as the Tigers had their best game of the year and the Bobcats suffered through one of their worst, losing 66-56 on Thursday. Tabby shot 23 of 29 from the line and seventy-five percent from the field. Panguitch shot 6 of 8 from the line and a dismal 26 percent from the field. Saturday, in the game for 5th and 7th, as mentioned above, the Bobcats played well enough to win, but it was a difficult victory and a hard game to play following the electrifying contest the night before with Bryce Valley. Skyler Dalton hit four straight free-throws to ice the game. Clint Pollock, Mark Tebbs, Bracken Englestead, Brett Sawyer and Devin Englestead helped provide the revitalizing energy off the bench to push the Bobcats over Altamont. Basketball is over for another season. Thanks for reading this weekly sports article. Thanks to all the coaches, Steve Hatch, Jim Smith and Scott Hunt for the boys and Angie Alvey, Brady Syrett and Curtis Barney with the girls, for a job well done. Thanks to the boys and girls teams in the county and in the region for a wonderful year of effort. Thanks finally, to the parents and fans who make it all possible. Your friend, John Yardley |