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OREM — With his brother, Utah Valley guard Drake Allen, in the crowd, Orem Tigers guard Jax Allen said there was a little extra motivation — at least for family bragging rights, anyway.
"I'm just trying to be better than him," the younger Allen said, laughing.
On this night, however, the Tigers were better on every front, with Allen grabbing 22 points, as the Region 7 champions ended West Jordan's magical season with a 63-44 victory Wednesday night. The win advances Orem to a Saturday morning date with Timpview in the 5A quarterfinals at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake.
Orem made it look easy all night long, racing to a 34-15 halftime lead, and relentlessly attacked the paint, with Trey Hiatt and Asher Young leading the way. Hiatt had 14 points, most of which came in the first half, while Young also added most of his 15 points in the first half.
While it did look that way, Allen said plenty of preparation went into slowing down a red-hot Jaguars team.
"Our coaches get us ready throughout the week, constantly," Allen said. "It takes a lot more work during practice than people think."
The work certainly paid off, as the Tigers' suffocating defense held West Jordan guard Colton Blackham to just 2 points on the night, and Carter Dorenbosch scored most of his 12 points in garbage time.
"We just tried to get it out of their playmakers' hands," Orem head coach Jace Tavita said. "Blackham is the best player in Region 4 for a reason."
Orem did just that, throwing double teams at Blackham and Dorenbosch at every opportunity. When they weren't doing that, the Tigers flew to the ball, not allowing many driving lanes or open shots.
West Jordan head coach Christian Wouden credited the Tigers for their aggressive defense.
"Even when they hedged, they scrambled out of it extremely well," he said. "Their length and their physicality really gave us problems, too."
Hiatt and Young were part of that physicality that gave Orem not only a boost defensively, but offensively.
"Having a balanced attack is the key," Tavita said. "You don't know who it's going to be; it could be someone different every night."
It's exactly what the Tigers will require as they head deeper into the playoffs. Tavita said he believes in the talent on his squad, but it's a matter of competing. "If we come out and compete, the scoreboard will take care of itself," he said.
Competing is exactly what West Jordan has done for the past two years since Wouden took over the program. He said players in the senior class, like Dorenbosch and Blackham, have all but become his family.
"Those are my boys," he said. "They've grown up with me. They've been with me ever since they were sophomores."
Wouden said he will never forget the turnaround the Jaguars have been able to engineer, either. West Jordan went 7-3 in region play before going 1-9 last season. This season, they went 12-0, their first region championship with an undefeated record since 2020, and came within one game of returning to the quarterfinals of the playoffs.
"Nobody can take this away; I'm so proud of these players and the buy-in they had," Wouden said.
Tavita and Orem will need that same buy-in that West Jordan carried throughout the season in Saturday's showdown with Timpview.
"We need to play all 32 minutes," Allen said. "We need to get off to a good start on Saturday and keep this rolling."
