Provo claims boys 4A state championship with 62-42 win over Hurricane

OGDEN — A second-half surge powered the Provo Bulldogs to a 62-42 win over the Hurricane Tigers to claim the 2026 Utah 4A state championship.

The Bulldogs ended their 18 year state title drought behind strong performances from the trio of Makai Allen, Callen Tollestrup and Lucas Castagnetto.

Provo controlled the pace of play for much of the game thanks to some hot-shooting from Castagnetto, who knocked down two quick 3-pointers for the Bulldogs and tallied four in the half as he finished with 12 points in the first 16 minutes of play.

"(Costagnetto) was huge today," Provo head coach Chris Collinsworth said. "He's a great shooter, great player. And he came through on the biggest stage, and so it made those gaps way bigger."

Costagnetto poured in a total of 15 points on five made 3-point shots as Provo shot 50% from three in the game.

The Tigers did a good job of keeping the Bulldogs' two leading scorers in check by holding Tollestrup to just 2 points in the first half; however, scoring-duo turned it on in the second half to secure the championship.

Allen, who leads Provo with 22.2 points per game, finished with 17 points but he did a good job of setting up his teammates as he tallied nine assists. Allen also grabbed seven rebounds to give him a near triple-double but his biggest highlight was a slam late in the fourth quarter.

The top-seeded Bulldogs began to flex their muscle to open the second half to pull away from Hurricane. Allen buried a pair of threes to increase the Bulldogs lead to 16 and from there it was just a race to the finish line.

Tollestrup was a big part of Provo's effort to break the game open in the second half. The big man did a little bit of everything for the Bulldogs as he finished with 12 points, six rebounds, five assists and two blocks.

"It's awesome," Allen said about playing with Tollestrup. "He's a great player. He's got big things coming."

Provo continued to hold onto that lead and not allow any threat of a Hurricane comeback. The Bulldogs played smart basketball throughout the final quarter and hustled for every loose ball to preserve the win.

Brigham Kemp was the Tigers go-to guy when they needed a bucket. Kemp led Hurricane in scoring with 24 points but Provo held strong on guarding the rest of the Tigers' lineup.

"The goal with Brigham is contain him, you're not going to stop him," Collinsworth said. "They shot really well. They're a good shooting team and we held them to 13% from 3 tonight."

When asked about what the title means to him, Collinsworth said, "everything."

"That's what I keep telling everyone. We've got a bunch of guys that bought in and believed in me, my staff, in Provo High and so for us to actually come through on that, for these guys and with these guys means everything."

Related topics