The fourth quarter was really where the offensive fireworks happened as the Falcons outscored the Vikings in the final eight minutes 15-13, which was nearly half of the game's entire output.
The Falcons clearly had the advantage inside on Viewmont but couldn't seem to take advantage of their height. Forward Nick Thompson did lead Clearfield in scoring with 13, but center Cameron Evans only mustered seven in the victory.
Evans was in some foul trouble throughout the game and was held to five points below his average. That left a lot to Thompson and to guards Tanner and Jordan Hansen, who scored nine and five respectively.
That was all the scoring right there in a nutshell for Clear-field. A total of four players scored for the Falcons in the contest while Viewmont had a total of five. Tommy Barrett led the Vikings with 13 while the remaining starting five contributed 19 total.
"We have trouble scoring the ball and it's been tough to end up on the short end of these kinds of losses more often than not," Viewmont Head Coach Jeff Emery said.
Viewmont led after the first quarter 9-5 behind some timely shooting from Davis Emery. His three-pointer in the final minute gave the Vikings their biggest lead of the game heading into the second quarter.
Both team's played such tight zone defenses that nobody could get anything outside or inside. The Falcons are definitely stronger inside than outside and the Vikings packed their defense in down low to smother both Thompson and Evans.
The strategy worked except that Viewmont couldn't score a basket on the offensive end either. Clearfield's defense was equally as strong. If there were a shot clock in high school basketball, both teams would have had a violation literally every offensive possession. Both teams seemed to take at least 40 seconds every time down to get off a shot.
Viewmont still held a 14-11 lead going into the halftime locker room, but the second half is where Clearfield began their comeback that led to a very entertaining and exciting finish.
The Falcons again played stifling defense in the third and that helped them gain a 17-14 lead with about 5:15 remaining in the quarter. Viewmont's defense tightened up though and held Clearfield to just two points those final five minutes as they went into the final eight minutes tied at 19 apiece.
The score went back and forth in the fourth quarter, which saw Barrett play great for the Vikings. He made one out of two free throws with 30 seconds left to tie the game at 32-32.
Clearfield slowed the ball down considerably on their possession until Thompson was able to get a runner in the lane to fall from about six feet out with 3.8 seconds to go for the Falcons' 34-32 lead.
Viewmont intelligently in-bounded the pass to Paul Rampton at half court and the senior immediately called timeout so the Vikings could again inbound from half court. There was now 2.8 seconds remaining and again the ball was inbounded to Rampton in the far right-hand corner behind the three-point line.
Rampton's turnaround shot was right on target and it fell just inches short of nothing but net. Clearfield escaped with the win and improved to 6-7 overall and 2-2 in league play, good for a third-place tie with Fremont. The Viking loss now has them tied for last place with Layton at 1-3 and 3-10 overall.
"These guys play so hard every night and these close games will hopefully start going our way because of these tough experiences we've gone through," Emery added.
Viewmont hosts first-place Davis tonight at 7 p.m. in Bountiful and hopefully the close losses can turn into close wins or this season might be a lot longer than Emery or any of the Vikings would like.
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