Friday night boys hoops observations

Now that I’ve seen the Jordan Beetdiggers twice in person, I have to say that I’m a believer. Jordan earned a 63-56 victory over Brighton, improving to 10-2 overall and earning sole possession of first place in Region 4.

The Beetdiggers aren’t far from being unbeaten. They lost on a last-second shot against Bingham, and led Davis before losing to the Darts. Jordan is for real, and will be a factor in the first week of March.

You have to give Brighton some credit. The Bengals fell behind 22-4 in the first quarter and were down 20 in the second quarter. I’ll admit I started looking up some info on this weekend’s NFL playoff games on my phone at that point because I thought the game was over. But Brighton battled back, getting within two in the fourth quarter before eventually losing.

Both teams had reasons to be encouraged and disappointed in their Region 4 clash.

Other observations from Friday night’s slate:

All the drama of the night seemed to occur in Region 2. Cyprus beat Hunter 41-39 when Issac Johnson scored on a layup at the buzzer. Misitana Afeaki did the same thing for West, giving the Panthers a 33-31 win over Skyline at the final horn. In what might have been the best game of the night, Cottonwood outlasted Granger 83-75 in two overtimes.

Did the upset of the night occur in Ogden? I know they have the same overall record but Ogden beating Box Elder 52-45 seems surprising. Jake Buck led a balanced scoring effort for the Tigers, putting in 13 points.

Our Web site briefly showed that Olympus had lost to East in Region 6 play, and it would have been the upset of the year in 4A. But it was wrong. The Titans actually defeated East with Nic Paulos hitting a 17-footer in the final seconds to give Olympus the win. He had 20 points.

Orem’s Austin Tuttle may have been the player of the night as he made a game-winning 3-pointer in overtime to give the Tigers a 51-50 win over city rival Timpanogos. Tuttle had 15 points.

Hurricane plays some ridiculous defense. The Tigers beat Cedar 42-29 and it was the second straight game in which Hurricane held its opponent to 29 points. Hurricane also held Dixie to 38 points last week.

Speaking of Dixie, the Flyers earned a hard-fought overtime win over rival Pine View, 60-58. Dallen Reber, a three-sport standout, had 16 points for Dixie.

Grantsville? What happened man? I gave the Cowboys some props the other day and they go out and lose to Judge 69-40. I expected better, Grantsville. Eh, must have been an off night.

South Summit kept its momentum going after beating Waterford on Wednesday. The Wildcats rolled past Layton Christian, 71-51, with Parker Anderson leading the way with 16 points.

North Sevier’s Derrick Christensen had a big night, racking up nine steals to go along with 20 points in a 74-52 win over Grand.

I believe Salem Hills’ London Simonson was the night’s top scorer, as he had 34 points in an 82-75 loss to Uintah.

What happened at your game on Friday night? What did I miss?