Wolves, Templars in title game

CEDAR CITY -- It was like a haymaker coming right out of nowhere. The Beavers didn't see it coming, and it caught them on the chin and dropped them.

North Sevier's Tyrell Peterson scored 11 of hits 23 points in the first five minutes of the first quarter and Greg Bulloch added eight more as North Sevier blew out the defending champions, 61-35, Friday night in the Class 2A semifinals.

"We came out and played. We hit some shots early and that made the difference," first-year North Sevier coach Mark Bailey said.

Peterson drilled three three-pointers in the first five minutes and North Sevier led 21-6.

Ball game over.

"The last time we played them, they said they played their A game," Beaver coach Calvin Albrecht said of North Sevier's nine- point win over Beaver in the second game of the year. "This time they played their A+ game."

North Sevier, which entered as the third seed from Region 12, will play Manti Saturday night at 7 p.m. for the state championship.

The Wolves held Beaver to its lowest point total of the year, and they held the tournament's leading scorer, Wes Marshall, to just four points.

"They shot the ball very well and we couldn't throw the ball into the ocean," Albrecht said. Beaver shot just 13-of-55.

"They missed a lot of shots. I credit that to our defense," Bailey said.

On the other hand, North Sevier shot 21-of-42 from the field for the game.

"I have good shooters and they were able to knock them down," Bailey said. "We wanted to keep it going because we knew Beaver would make a run."

But that run never came.

"Once they got up, we couldn't even make lay-ups," Albrecht said.

North Sevier led by 18 at the end of the first quarter and pushed it to 22 points on a pair of foul shots by Riley Wanlass.

Beaver missed its first nine shots of the second quarter to allowed North Sevier to open up the huge lead.

"We felt like we would have a good game," Peterson said. "As a group we felt good together. Its takes a team to do it and we did it as a team."

Late in the third quarter, North Sevier turned the ball over four straight times and Beaver whittled the lead to 13, 39-26, to start the fourth, but the Wolves answered with a 12-2 run to put the game away.

"We're finally playing good," Bailey said. "We had a new system and we finally got what we wanted out of the kids."

And the Wolves, winners of five straight, couldn't have asked for a better time for that to happen.

MANTI 64, KANAB 59: Manti guard Kyle Crouch scored 13 straight points in the final 3:03 as the No. 1 Templars erased a 10-point fourth quarter lead to advance to the state championship game.

Crouch finished with a game-high 26 points and was 10-for-10 from the foul line.

"He struggled for 2 1/2 quarters and then he got it going," Hugentobler said.

During that stretch, the Cowboys scored just two points.

In his 13-point run, Crouch had a three-pointer, two pointer and eight straight fouls shots.

"When the kids have their backs to the wall they play," Manti coach Mark Hugentobler said.

The Templars (22-1) trailed by as many as 15 points midway through the third quarter.

The Cowboys (15-8) led 10 points at the half behind three second- quarter three-pointer by Colt Neimann.

Mace Glazier started the third quarter with a three-pointer to increase the lead to 13 points.

When Clay Greenland hit 1-of-2 foul shots with 2:24 left in the third quarter the Cowboys led by 15.

Glazier led Kanab with 13 points and Greeland had 10.

Kanab hit just 7-of-20 foul shots. Kevin Cox finished with 14 points for the Templars.

In consolation action:

SOUTH SEVIER 72, SAN JUAN 55: Daniel Bishoff poured in 20 points and Wade Meacham added 19 more to lead the Rams into the consolation championship game.

The Rams hit 35-of-42 foul shots in the victory. Duncan Olsen led San Juan with 16 points.

GUNNISON 52, NORTH SUMMIT 42: Jake Hill scored a team-high 16 points as the Bulldogs eliminated North Summit.The Bulldogs trailed by two at the end of the first quarter, but led by three at the half.

North Summit's Andy Carlsen led all scorers with 19 points and Rocky Pace added 12.

E-MAIL: jhinton@desnews.com

Copyright C 2003 Deseret News Publishing Co.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.