Dixie’s players circled together during a timeout midway through the fourth quarter Saturday night — both physically and figuratively.
The Flyers huddled to shelter themselves from the noise of the raucous Judge Memorial crowd and to get instructions from their coach. But they also joined together to catch their breath and find a way to win.
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They did just that, scoring the game’s final 13 points to overcome an eight-point deficit and stun Judge Memorial 46-41 in the first round of the Class 3A state playoffs.
"We just said we don’t need to panic, we had plenty of time," said Dixie senior Devin Bennett, who scored the game’s next eight points following the timeout. "The biggest thing is we just came together as a team."
Bennett scored 16 points as the Flyers (12-10) ended the Bulldogs’ 10-game winning streak. Dixie also won a first-round game for the first time since 2007 and will meet Delta in Thursday’s quarterfinals.
Dixie’s Walter Swenson scored 10 points and had the go-ahead basket with 1:38 remaining.
Jacob Gondrezick scored 16 points and Alex Mancini had 15 points and 14 rebounds for Judge (15-7), which led 41-33 after Gondrezick’s jumper with 3:38 remaining.
The Bulldogs went cold from the floor and committed two turnovers in the final minutes as their season ended.
Other first-round games:
Delta 49, Bear River 39 • Taylor Bahr scored 17 points to lead the host Rabbits into the second round.
Desert Hills 61, Juan Diego 55 • Tyler Ott scored a game-high 18 points, and the host Thunder led the entire second. Desert Hills (19-3) advanced to play Ben Lomond. Brian Curran had 17 points for the Soaring Eagle.
Ben Lomond 73, Carbon 52 • Josh Hardin had 30 points and 18 rebounds as host Ben Lomond won for the ninth time in 10 games.
Hurricane 63, Park City 50 • Colton Marshall had 18 points and eight rebounds as the host Tigers advanced to meet Morgan on Thursday.
Cedar 42, Wasatch 41 • Trent Snow capped a wild comeback with a jumper at the buzzer as the visiting Redmen advanced.
Payson 71, Ogden 56 • Clint Bateman scored 25 points and Tanner Newbold added 22 for host Payson, which won its 11th consecutive game.
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