Wrestling wraps up season, cagers head to state play-ins

THE ROUND-UP
by Tad Barton
Wrestlers across the state of Utah converged on Orem, UT and Utah Valley University this past weekend for their chance to bring home a state title.
San Juan had seven wrestlers representing the Broncos in the 2A Tournament.
Junior Reilly Myrick led the Bronco grapplers with a third place finish at 182 lbs. Myrick won his first two matches before losing in the Semi-Final round to the eventual champion, McKade Cox of Gunnison. He then rebounded from the loss to beat Rustin Limb of Beaver in his final match to claim the third place finish.
Six other Broncos represented San Juan at the 2A State Tournament, including: Tsosie Warren, Jared Webb, Dominik Perkins, Grange Simpson, Coleman Black and Adrian Bitsinnie.
Congratulations to all the Broncos wrestlers on a great season.
Girls BBall
San Juan girls’ basketball team punched their ticket to the post season back on February 5 when they defeated the Grand County Red Devils, 51-42.
Going into their final two games of the season, the Lady Broncos hoped to gain some momentum, as they played two of the top teams in Region 15, the North Sevier Wolves and South Sevier Rams.
Earlier in the season, San Juan was blown out at home against North Sevier, dropping that contest 64-36.
The Broncos were surely hoping to avenge that loss as they traveled to Salina, UT on Friday, February 13 but fell just short of the upset, 48-43.
In the first quarter the North Sevier built a six-point lead over San Juan, taking a 13-7 lead into the second quarter. The Broncos fought back in the second, cutting the Wolves’ lead to five points at the half, 22-17.
After the break, the Broncos kept the gas peddle down, outscoring the Wolves 17-12 in the third period to tie the game up 34-34 heading into the final eight minutes of play.
North Sevier battled back in the fourth pulling away down the stretch to claim the five-point victory, 48-43.
The Broncos were led by Sara Morley who finished the night with 22 points. Tyla Morris finished with seven points followed by Kelsey Flavel with five points.
Arizona Carr chipped in four points just ahead of Jessica Swenson who scored three points and Jade Palmer who finished with two points.
The second game of their two-game road trip found the Broncos in Monroe, UT facing off with the South Sevier Rams. San Juan struggled throughout the game, as they scored just 20 points in the contest while giving up 69 to the home team.
The game was over almost as soon as it began as the Rams took a 16-1 first quarter lead. South Sevier then built on that lead adding another 22 points to their total while only giving up four points to San Juan, resulting in a 38-5 deficit for the Broncos at halftime.
The final two quarters were more of the same, as the Rams put up 17 points in the third and 13 in the fourth, all while holding the Broncos to seven and eight points respectively in the third and fourth for a final score of 69-20.
Morley again led the Broncos with seven points, followed by Morris and Swenson who both had five points. Flavel finished the night with two points and Palmer had one point in the loss.
San Juan will look to rebound this Thursday, February 19 as they face off against the top team from Region 13, Kanab, in the 2A State Play-in game. The game will be held at Orem High and is scheduled for a 10:15 a.m. tipoff.
Boys BBall
The Broncos entered the week needing to win their final two home games to claim a share of the Region 15 title. After knocking off Grand on Tuesday, February 10 and holding a 73-70 lead over North Sevier with just 1:34 left in the final game of the regular season, it looked like they might just do that.
The Wolves managed to force a couple key turnovers down the stretch and capitalized on them to tie the game 76-76 at the end of regulation to force overtime. In overtime, North Sevier took control, scoring the first six points. San Juan would close the gap to three points twice before ultimately falling 94-86.
Against Grand, San Juan took control early on, leading the Red Devils by seven points, 15-8, after the first quarter. The Broncos didn’t back off in the second quarter, extending their lead to 13 points by halftime, 42-29.
The third quarter was once again all San Juan as they poured it on, outscoring Grand 22-9 in the period, making the score after three quarters 64-38.
The Broncos scored 23 points in the fourth, making it three straight quarters of 20 points or more, all while holding the Red Devils to just 11 points, resulting in an 87-49 win for the Broncos.
Jordan Blake led all scorers with 25 points, including five buckets from beyond the three-point line to go with seven rebounds, four assists and four steals.
DiQuan Lopez is next with 19 points, four rebounds and five steals. Max Morley added 16 points and two rebounds while Caleb Pugh chipped in eight points for the Broncos.
Next is Kade Palmer who netted six points to go with four rebounds and three steals. Jaden Torgerson and Kesian Barton both had five points, Torgerson also had five rebounds; Barton had six boards of his own along with 11 assists and five steals.
Jaxon Lee, Mason Bethea and Zach Brown all saw some varsity playing time and each scored one point in the win.
In their final game of the regular season, the Broncos hoped to not only claim a share of the Region 15 title, but send their five seniors out with a win on senior night.
After trailing by seven points, 23-16, after the first quarter, the Broncos battled back to take a 36-34 lead at the half.
San Juan pushed their lead to three points after outscoring North Sevier 18-17 in the third quarter to lead 54-51 heading into the fourth. The Broncos had their chances down the stretch to put the game away but failed to do so, allowing the Wolves to remain in the game and to eventually tie things up.
San Juan had two chances to score as time ran out; both attempts rimmed out, leaving the score 76-76 at the end of the fourth quarter.
North Sevier took control of the overtime period early and never looked back. The Broncos fought right down to the end, twice pulling within three points before ultimately falling to the Wolves, 94-86.
Even in the loss, the Bronco seniors came up big, paced by Palmer who scored 24 points and pulled down 13 rebounds in his final home game as a Bronco.
Lopez was right on Palmer’s heals with 23 points, four rebounds and four assists; he was also a perfect nine of nine from the free throw line.
Morley barely missed the 20 point mark, finishing with 19 points and seven rebounds.
Blake finished the game with nine points and seven assists; he was followed by Barton who had six points and five boards. Blake and Barton were also perfect from the free throw line, shooting three of three and four of four respectively.
Rounding the scoring out for San Juan was Pugh with three points and Torgerson with two points. Pugh also had three rebounds while Torgerson grabbed five boards.
With the loss, San Juan was tied for third place in Region 15 with South Sevier, since both teams each had one win over the other. There was a coin toss to determine seeding for this weekend’s play-in game.
The Broncos won the coin toss and the third place seed. They will face off against the second place team from Region 13, the Beaver Beavers, at Orem High School on Friday, February 20 at 3:10 p.m.