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OREM — The Bountiful Braves beat the Skyridge Falcons 56-52 in the opening round of the 5A state basketball tournament Monday.
Bountiful’s offensive efficiency and attention to detail was too much for the Falcons, as the Braves came out with an intensity to will themselves to a victory.
“This is a team that just loves to get after it and play hard,” said Bountiful head coach Mike Maxwell.
Juniors Brig Willard and Isaac Kime were the two big keys in Bountiful’s offensive scheme. Kime finished with 15 points on 5-9 shooting from the field. Willard finished with 10 points.
Right from the get-go, the game was full of intensity as both teams came out full of energy.
The Braves were up by eight points at halftime, and for first part of the second half never looked back. Skyridge kept fighting, but for quite awhile could not cut the lead to less than 10 points.
With about 6:30 left in the game, Skyridge was able to make a layup and cut the lead to six. But Bountiful came back and scored, extending the lead to 45-36.
Skyridge hit a three with 4:30 remaining, giving the Falcons life and cutting the lead to six again.
After a timeout by the Braves, Willard bullied his way to the basket to put Bountiful back up by eight. Willard came back down the next play to score on another tough finish at the rim.
The game looked out of reach for Skyridge, but the Falcons were able to force their way to the rim and get a big offensive rebound put-back in the last couple of minutes to cut the lead to three.
“That’s a tough team over there that wasn’t going to quit, and they were battle tested," Maxwell said of Skyridge. "To get second in their region, they got there for a reason."
Skyridge was able to steal the ball and get fouled on a layup attempt, but were only able to make one-of-two free throws.
