Friday night boys hoops observations

There were 53 region boys basketball games played Friday night, with several going into overtime and many others decided in the final minutes.

Here are some of my observations from Friday night’s slate:

Trailing by 10 entering the fourth quarter, Cottonwood played outstanding defense in the fourth quarter in rallying past Skyline as Tim Glenn drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the 41-40 victory.

Speaking of comebacks, Juan Diego outscored Ben Lomond 18-8 in the fourth quarter to rally for the 52-51 victory to remain atop the Region 11 standings with a 5-0 record.

For what seems like the first time in a while, the three Region 20 games went according to plan with Milford, Piute and Valley all prevailing.

Every night there seems to be a barn-burner in Region 4, and Alta at Brighton was that game Friday. Led by Corbin Miller’s five 3-pointers and 26 points Brighton notched an impressive 71-65 overtime victory to move into sole possession of first place in the region with a 4-1 record.

It must’ve been an exciting night in Kamas with South Summit pulling away from North Summit in the fourth quarter for an 80-73 victory to remain undefeated in Region 14.

Here’s something you don’t see every day, especially at the high school level. Bingham shot 87 percent from the free throw line (27 of 31) to hold off West Jordan for the 74-66 victory. The top team in the state now stands at 13-1 and more importantly 3-0 in Region 3.

Mountain Crest started slowly in only scoring three points in the first quarter, but it got better as the game wore on and eventually pulled away from Box Elder for the 50-42 victory to improve to 6-0 in Region 5.

It’s still early, but Region 8 may end up being the most competitive region in the state. After Friday’s round of games, which includes Spanish Fork’s 57-48 win over Payson, Springville’s 60-53 overtime win over Salem Hills and Uintah’s 60-47 win over Maple Mountain, four teams now stand at 2-1 in league play, with Salem Hills right behind at 1-2.

On a night when Delta had a chance to move into a first-place tie in Region 12 with Emery, the Spartans took care of business early in a wire-to-wire victory over Delta, 62-55.

Kanab broke the century mark with a 100-57 victory over Cross Creek.

After Fremont and Davis, things continue to tighten up in Region 1 with Weber, Syracuse and Layton all tied for fourth with 4-4 records. Had Viewmont lost to Northridge instead of prevailing with a football-like score of 42-35, there would be six teams tied with 4-4 records. As it stands now though Viewmont sits in sole possession of third place with a 5-3 record.

What happened at your game on Friday night?