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OGDEN — With 6 seconds left to play in the tied game, Kanab called one final play in hopes of upsetting North Summit in the quarterfinal round of the 2A boys basketball state tournament.
Utah.
Kanab's game-winning play is named after University of Utah’s Parker Van Dyke who hit a game-winning 3-pointer to erase a 22-point deficit and beat UCLA on the road this season.
Kanab inbounded the ball on the opposite baseline, drove the full length of the court and got the ball to the team’s leading scorer, Sam Orton, for a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to beat North Summit 51-48.
Prior to the shot, Kanab trailed by 5 points with just over 2 minutes left to play and switched to a full-court press in hopes of closing in on the Braves. The press worked perfectly as North Summit turned the ball over four times and the Cowboys traded it for points on the other end to take a 2-point lead.
“We were behind at the time, and we had to change the momentum somehow,” Kanab head coach Mickey Houston said of his team’s switch to the press. “We were ready to go to it.”
North Summit’s Quinton Jones, who was a force in the post for the Braves and finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds, was fouled on a shot attempt to give North Summit a chance to tie the game up. Jones hit both free throws as an overtime game looked probable. But that was before Orton’s shot.
Orton finished the game with 26 points and eight rebounds in the upset win and was the only player in double figures for the Cowboys.
North Summit opened up the game like a team ready to run up the score as they took an early 6-0 lead. On defense, too, the Braves managed six blocks, including five from Jones in the first quarter, and smothered Kanab’s attempts in the post. But the Cowboys battled back and held the Braves to only one made free throw in the first quarter after their initial run.
Meanwhile, Kanab scored 9 points on the other end to take their first lead of the game. The two teams traded baskets in the second quarter as Kanab held onto a 19-18 lead going into halftime, despite North Summit shooting a higher percentage from the field.
North Summit answered back and managed a 6-0 run and an 8-0 run in the third quarter to reclaim its lead and put distance on the Cowboys. The Braves eventually led by as much as 7 points in the second half and controlled the game, particularly in the post where Jones managed another four blocks to frustrate the Cowboys.
But several fouls and turnovers ultimately doomed the Braves as they continued to give the Cowboys an opportunity to come back for the win.
Kanab, which hasn’t made it into the state tournament in nearly a decade, advanced to the semifinal round of the tournament and will play Parowan on Friday at 9:10 p.m. at the Dee Events Center in Ogden. The game can be viewed live on KSL.com.
“You’ve got to understand where Kanab basketball is coming from. We have not been to the state tournament in nine years. We have not been to the play-in game in seven years. We’re usually playing baseball right now. This year, these kids really committed,” Houston said.
“This stuff here is just icing on the cake. The shot is just another icing.”
