'Clutch' DowDell leads Olympus to 2nd 5A boys basketball title in 3 years

SALT LAKE CITY — For almost exactly one year, Olympus' boy's basketball program had to live with last year's final loss: a 71-51 defeat to eventual champion Alta in the 5A state semifinals.

Even in a highly competitive Region 6 where the Titans split with the Hawks with a game apiece, Olympus knew the biggest game was still in front of both teams.

Just under a year later — 364 days, with the Leap Year, to be exact — the Titans earned their revenge.

Dutch DowDell — whose friends called him "Clutch" — poured in 34 points on 12-of-18 shooting, including six 3-pointers, as Olympus won its second 5A basketball title in three years, 69-61 over defending champion Alta at the Jon M. Huntsman Center.

Reef Smylie added 13 points, four rebounds and two steals for the Titans (24-3), who shot 52.4% from the field and 42% from three in the win.

"We knew it was personal; they blew us out last year in the semis, and we were going to go at them," said DowDell, the Harvard commit and two-time all-state selection who averaged 25.3 points in four playoff games for the Titans. "We then beat them over the summer (in a club tournament), and that win kind of catapulted us all year. We knew if we could do that, we could do it in the state championship."

It's the fifth state title for Olympus coach Matt Barnes, and third since 2018. And he did so with his son Jordan, the state's career assists leader and Utah State commit who had 6 points, eight dimes and two steals Friday amid a cast of players the coach has led since as early as second grade.

"I've coached Dutch since he was in second or third grade," Barnes said. "He and Jordi have played together forever. This was so special; I love them both. They're both my kids, and to see them play so well and go out the way they did — for Dutch to shoot the ball the way we know he can — is what you dream about."

Ace Reiser led Alta (24-3) with 18 points, four assists and three steals, and Dash Reiser added 14 points and two rebounds.

Utah commit Jaxon Johnson supplied 15 points and eight rebounds for the Hawks, who used their fast-paced offense to hang with the Titans early.

Both teams raced out to a 19-19 stalemate after the first quarter, with DowDell canning a pair of triples for Olympus and Alta countering every time through Ace and Dash Reiser.

DowDell capped a 7-0 run to give the Titans a 26-19 lead to open the second quarter. But the Hawks came back, all the way to a 32-31 halftime lead as Ace Reiser beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer at the break.

The College of Southern Idaho-bound shooter shot 4-of-5 from the field in the first half, finishing with 10 points, two assists, two rebounds and a steal for the Hawks. Johnson added 8 points and six boards for Alta, which outscored the Titans 20-14 in the paint before Reiser's go-ahead triple — one of just three threes in the first half.

DowDell and Smylie each scored 10 to lead Olympus in the first half as both teams shot better than 52% from the field and a combined 6-of-18 from three.

DowDell capped a 7-0 start to the third with a 3-pointer, added another to stretch the Titans' lead to 45-36, and Jordan Barnes' triple at the buzzer lifted Olympus to a 48-36 advantage before the fourth quarter.

But the Titans weren't done — or more accurately, DowDell wasn't. The Hawks may have had the momentum.

But Olympus had DowDell.

"I thought we took one of their best sequences at the end, and I didn't think they would go 10 in a row again," DowDell said. "We always talk about starting the third quarter strong, and that's what we came out and did."

Boy, did they.

The senior stretched Olympus' lead to 53-38 with a 3-pointer midway through the fourth, and after Reiser cut the Hawks' deficit to 53-43 with 2:47, DowDell responded with a drive to push the Titans' lead to 55-43 with just two minutes to play.

"How good was Dutch? He just shot it so good," Barnes said. "We made a few mistakes, and you aren't going to beat the No. 1 team easily. They didn't go down without a fight, but we just stuck to our game plan, and battled and battled."

KSL.com 5A all-tournament team

• MVP — Dutch DowDell, Olympus
• Jordan Barnes, Olympus
• Reef Smylie, Olympus
• Jaxon Johnson, Alta
• Ace Reiser, Alta
• Dean Rueckert, Timpview

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