This time, buzzer beater favors Sky View instead of Logan

<strong>SMITHFIELD—</strong> For the Sky View Bobcats, revenge is sweet.

Three weeks ago, Logan’s Taylor Compton hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat Sky View by one point. This time, it was the Bobcats’ turn to win in a similar fashion. Sky View sophomore Riley Panter came off the bench and scored his only points of the game on a jumper with one second to play. Panter’s shot lifted Sky View over the Grizzlies by a 57-56 final score.

“Tough game. I thought both teams played really hard,” Logan head coach Logan Brown said. “I was proud of the way my guys came back and got themselves in the game and took the lead. Sky View made a run at us, they hit a great shot at the end. I think you need to give credit to them on that.”

Sky View’s Ty Nielsen led all scorers with 28 points, 18 of which came in the first half. Jalen Moore added eight more for the Bobcats. Logan was led by senior Luke Falk’s 15 point effort while Tyler Brimhall added 12 more.

The first quarter started slow. Both teams were having troubles getting shots to fall and turnovers plagued both teams. At the end of the first quarter of play, Sky View led 10-9.

Nielsen started the second quarter hot. The senior guard hit three 3-pointers in a row to give Sky View a 19-11 lead to start the period. With just over two minutes remaining in the half, Nielsen had 18 points. The entire Logan team had only 15.

“Early on in games it seems, when he has his legs, Ty Nielsen is a pretty good shooter,” Sky View head coach Kirk Hillyard said. “He did some really good things tonight. Then we went into a lull in the third quarter where nobody could score. It seemed like we couldn’t throw it in the ocean.”

After a solid second quarter by the Bobcats, they led Logan 27-19 at the half.

Logan did to Sky View in the third quarter what the Bobcats had done to them in the second. With less than three minutes left in the quarter and trailing by nine, the Grizzlies went on a 13-1 run to finish the period. Logan held a 41-38 lead heading into the fourth.

Sky View continued to struggle getting shots to drop while Logan increased their lead. With less than five minutes to play, Logan guard Taylor Compton made a layup to give the Grizzlies a 49-42 edge over the Bobcats.

After a Mitch Larson 3-pointer and a couple layups by Moore and Nielsen, Sky View had cut the lead to two. Then Braxton Godderidge stole the ball from Compton at half court and was fouled going to the basket. Godderidge sank both free throws to tie the game at 53 apiece.

“The game at Logan, Compton kind of took it to me,” Godderidge said. “He showed me who I wasn’t. I played with a little chip on my shoulder tonight and wanted to come out and get after him.”

On the ensuing possession, Nielsen picked up two fouls, sending Falk to the line twice and sending himself to the bench with five fouls. After three made free throws from Falk, Sky View’s Matt Dewey hit two from the charity stripe to make it a one point game.

“There was a lot of belief. There was a lot of trust and talking about defense in the timeouts,” Godderidge said. “We had to come out and trust each other because our leading scorer was out. If there was no belief out on that floor tonight we wouldn’t have come away with a win.”

After some missed free throws from Logan, Sky View called a timeout at half court with 8 seconds left. The Bobcats were down by one and had their leading scorer sitting on the bench. Coach Hillyard put Panter on the floor and drew up a play for the final shot. Moore started with the ball but tough defense caused the ball to end up in Panter’s hands, who made a baseline jumper with just one second left on the clock.

“We could have folded a couple times in the fourth quarter but the kids stuck it out and did what we needed to,” Hillyard said. “We got some timely stops. Braxton Godderidge played a phenomenal game defensively tonight. He got in Compton’s way a little bit and got a couple steals. Some of our other guys stepped it up tonight and got a few rebounds. I’m happy for the kids.”

The Grizzlies called a timeout for a last second desperation attempt but came up short.

“Thirteen of our last 15 games have come down to the wire. Our guys are very seasoned in that moment,” Brown said. “What you need to understand is that those games come down to defending and scoring. I thought we did a pretty decent job defending that last play. We took the ball out of their best player’s hands and kind of rolled the dice and that’s what happens. They made a great play on it.”

Sky View travels to Box Elder on Wednesday, Feb. 13 and Logan hits the road to face Roy. The Royals are currently tied with Mountain Crest for first place in Region Five.

“This game is huge. It gives us a two-game lead on Logan,” Hillyard said. “You never know, a lot of things can happen in this region down the stretch. But we’ve got to take it one game at a time.”

<em><strong>@heywood_kyle</strong></em>

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