Entering the final eight minute stanza the Vikings had staved off a valiant comeback attempt by Bountiful and led 49-39, but that’s when the Braves defended their home gym and clamped down on the Vikings to earn a thrilling 52-47 come-from-behind victory.
“We owed them from last year,” said Bountiful’s Sean Carey. “We had not been finishing off games and this we really wanted. We just kept doing what our coaches had told us to do and we were able to get the win. This is great.”
Carey, a 6-7 player who can give an opponent fits inside and outside went off as did his teammates as the Braves outscored Viewmont 23-8 in the last quarter. As Bountiful forced the Vikings into nine fourth quarter turnovers, many that turned into points for Bountiful, an out of bounds play after a Bountiful timeout finally tied the score and flipped the momentum.
Bountiful had received the ball on a Viking turnover and Braves coach Mike Maxwell called time out. Still trailing 49-37, Bountiful’s Christian Taylor took the ball out and Sean Carey broke to the basket. A perfect pass from Taylor gave Carey a clear lay in to knot the contest.
“That’s a designed play and it worked perfectly,” Maxwell said. “I think that play showed what this team is capable of doing when everyone does their job within the team concept. On that play guys are setting screens and opening up a spot for Sean to receive the ball. Christian made a great pass and it worked.”
After Jeff Moncur blocked a Viking attempt, Travis Parrish was fouled during the scramble for the ball with 2:18 to play and calmly hit both free throws to give Bountiful the lead, 41-39. And when Taylor’s steal led to a Carey bucket the Braves were up 43-39 and never looked back.
“Christian Taylor is a terrific player,” Maxwell said. “He has a good basketball IQ and sometimes we have to reel him in a bit, but when he does things on a basic level he is great. Today he made some heads up plays that were real big.
“Jeff Moncur is another player on our team who does a lot of good things,” Maxwell said. “He’s 6-4 but has a wing span of a 6-7 guy and that makes him a great defender and he was a big reason we were able to be successful in the fourth quarter.”
Viewmont didn’t make a fourth quarter basket until the 1:57 mark, which led to its demise.
“We have these spans of time where we just don’t do good things and the games get out of hand,” said Viewmont coach Jeff Emery. “We played very good and did a lot of good things for three quarters and then we did a lot of things poorly in the last quarter.”
Said Maxwell, “I think Viewmont is a very good team, which is what makes this win more exciting for us. They have some great players.”
The Braves were led by a balanced attack with Parrish’s 16 points, Carey’s 14 and Moncur’s 13.
The Vikings’ top scorer was Christensen who had 18.
“What’s weird about the game is that we blew the lead and we didn’t win, but we actually shot well for the game,” Emery said. “We shot 58 percent. That’s going to win most games. We need to fix the other problems in a hurry. Region play starts this week.”
Viewmont first plays at Riverton tonight before hosting Clearfield Friday. The Braves are at Roy Wednesday and then host arch-rival Woods Cross on Jan. 14.
sschulte@davisclipper.com
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