| OCR Text |
Show zz ! 1 " ' ' .'.; i - ' -.. '- - i A W"' .. V' i-l t - ' - .v I v . iBUBiimiii -maun.,, i i fmnt. tMaMMwA davis county clipper shaun stahle Gary Seljaas fires a pass to Matt Thornley along the baseline as the Braves took an easy 7 1-54 first-round first-round win in the state tournament. Bountifol's MASH Bash w , . p?f&f W' -f hut ,s A V a - I :" ' r H ; i v -. " P V lj V ZJ , At V U x ' X Matt Thornley splits the Titan defense for a hopping layup. By DAVE WIGHAM Clipper Sports SALT LAKE CITY In one of the strangest basketball games witnessed in the state of Utah the Bountiful Braves outlasted out-lasted Olympus 71-59 in their opening round battle of the state 4A tournament. THE VICTORY sets up a classic battle this Wednesday between be-tween the number three ranked Braves and number one ranked Hillcrest. Bountiful raced out of the blocks to take an 1 1-0 lead mainly on the long range bombs of guard Blake Izatt. Truth is the Braves led 17-1 before the Titans scored their first field goal of the evening. But then the roles were reversed and Olympus came roaring back to eventually take the lead at 19-18. "That was different wasn't it" summized Bountiful coach Mike Hall, "Olympus was really tight while we were making our shots. I kept telling the kids though that they would get back in it, and they did." FROM THAT time on though the Braves took control of the ballgame with senior Gary Seljaas taking the lead. At the half Gary had poured in 14 points to pace the balanced Braves attack but it was his play that laid the foundation for the victory. "When Gary plays hard he's as good as anyone in the state" noted Hall. Then in the third period it was guard Dave Burnetts' time to put on a show as the slim senior scored ten of his points. "Dave played as well tonight as he has all year. Not just scoring but in passing, ballhanding and he held one of their better players to just two points. He played extremely well" added Hall. OLYMPUS NEVER really did make a serious run at the Braves in the final period, the closest they got was ten points, but at times it appeared as though the Braves were trying to let them back in it. "We got a little careless at the end of the game when we threw three passes right to them for layups. Finally I just told the kids no shot and we settled down and controlled the game from then on. Yea there were some tense moments for me even though we were up ten" Hall said. Seljaas led the balanced scoring for the Braves with his game high 21 coming on a variety of shots including several alley-oop style shots he got by sneaking behind the Titans zone and getting some pin point passes from Burnett and Izatt. "I don't know why we got so many of those tonight, it was open and the kids used it" Hall offered. DAVE BURNETT was next in line with 14 points, Steve Hib-bert Hib-bert added 13 mainly on some excellent foul shooting, Blake Izatt ended with 11 although that total would be more had the three point rule been in effect, and the fifth starter Matt Thornley added 8. |
