Bountiful's season comes to an end after three-pointer is waved off

WEST VALLEY --Sometimes these things happen. After shooting an icy 2-16 from three-point land as a team, a 6-foot, 2-inch guard nails a trey in the face of a 6-foot, 9-inch defender with under 30 seconds remaining. Down one point with two seconds left, a player hits a three-quarters-court shot, but it's waved off because a time out was called before he released it. Your team holds the opponent under 30 percent shooting for the game, and out-rebounds them, yet loses. Players and coaches are likely to see only one of these things happen during the course of their careers. Unfortunately for the Bountiful Braves, they all occurred in the span of one minute of the game clock last week in the state tournament as they lost to Olympus 29-28.

Ty VanVranken, who hadn't hit a shot all day, sank a three-pointer with Ben Aird in his grille to give the Titans the lead with under 30 seconds to play.

Bountiful had other chances to win the game, but missed two shots that would have given them the lead.

With five seconds remaining Olympus missed the front end of a 1-1, and Bountiful's Josh Taylor took the ball and charged up the court before launching a shot as coach Mike Maxwell signaled for a time out.

The ball swished through the hoop just after the whistle was blown. The crowd, as well as the Braves, sat in disbelief.

With 2.2 seconds remaining, the ensuing in-bounds pass was stolen.

The Braves shot a better percentage from the field (35 to 26), and out-rebounded the Titans (30-27), but the turnover bug hit them early and often, and the Titans took advantage.

Bountiful coughed the ball up 15 times, which the Titans converted into 10 points. The mishaps prevented the Braves from establishing any continuity on offense and kept the ball out of the hands of their center Ben Aird.

The Titans' Matt Barnes improved to 16-2 all-time against Mike Maxwell-coached teams.

Aird was 5-8 from the field, good for 10 points, but he didn't get a sniff of the ball in the post. The vastly undersized Titans packed in their defense, trying to prevent an entry pass to the big man, and the Braves were unable to rotate the ball and find an open seam.

Olympus, responsible for defeating both Woods Cross and Bountiful, went on to lose in the semifinals to Provo on Friday.

The loss ended a successful season for the Braves, who finished 15-7 on the year and won a share of a Region 5 championship.

Seniors Josh Taylor and Anthony Hewlett had fine seasons leading the Braves. Taylor averaged 16 points per game, and Hewlett was the team leader in assists.

Senior Bret Markowski was solid all season, but stepped his game up to the next level in the state tournament. After having a great game against Payson, Markowski scored nine points and had four steals to keep the Braves in the game against Olympus.

Aird grew as a player throughout the season, and developed the ability to take over games when given the chance.

The Braves easily could have lived to play another day, but the basketball gods were smiling on Olympus in this contest.

bdevoe@davisclipper.com