At least, that is what most people should have learned about some of the teams in the 4A and 5A state basketball tournaments.
And most of the success can’t be attributed to one class or the other, as both sides had great teams that saw early exits to their title dreams.
However, most of the upsets came from the 4A classification, as the Woods Cross Wildcats and Bountiful Braves ripped through the 4A bracket in order to reach the semi finals.
The Braves and the ’Cats were immediately tested with No. 1 teams from Region 7 and Region 9 respectively.
They both dispatched their opponents, with the Braves out-dueling defending champion Timpview, to move on.
Both were stuck in the crosshairs of top teams again, only to come out on top and end up facing each other in the semis.
With Woods Cross winning on a last second field goal, and the Braves toughing through No. 1 Springville, the stage was set for an ultimate showdown of which team was getting the right to face another top team in the finals.
Bountiful prevailed, but fell to Highland.
In 5A, the Davis Darts and co-Region 1 champion Viewmont Vikings were immediately dispatched by teams that many thought were going to be relatively easy for both teams.
Davis’ loss to American Fork wasn’t much of a surprise, especially considering the Cavemen went on to play in the final game against Lone Peak, the top seed from Region 4.
But the surprising loss of the first round could have belonged to Viewmont, who faced the Brighton Bengals and lost a heartbreaker in overtime by two points.
The Bengals were immediately dispatched by Murray in the next round, and in the scope of upsets, there wasn’t much to report for the remainder of the 5A tournament.
With American Fork and Lone Peak representing Region 4 in the finals, it gave many fans in both Region 4 and Region 6 an argument that could last for some time: which Region is best?
The biggest upset of the tournament in either classification had to be the Bountiful win over Timpview.
As anyone would tell people, anytime you knock off the defending state champions in the first round that team has something to shoot for.
Regardless of who the team was, the Braves weren’t going to be detracted from their goal of winning a state title, especially with five seniors in the starting lineup.
And the fact that they fell short shouldn’t distract anyone from believing that they had a chance in that title game, especially with the way the teams played each other in the regular season.
One thing is for sure, however, it was the best set of tournaments people have been to in quite awhile.
Post a Comment
