Senior Brigham Mulford scored 21 points during Grantsville’s 52-43 win over Morgan High during the 3A Boys Basketball Championship.
Grantsville High boys basketball sophomore Bryson Roberts.
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Loading...After defeating the Ogden Tigers during last week’s playoff game, the Grantsville Cowboys boys basketball team faced off against the Morgan Trojans for a third-round matchup in the 3A state tournament.
In the early moments of the game, which took place on the campus of Southern Utah University, both teams got off to a rocky start and went scoreless in the games first two minutes. Following the disjointed opening moments, Morgan found itself in early foul trouble and committed four early fouls in the first half of the quarter.
As a result, the Cowboys earned their first five points off free throws and jumped out to an early lead. The Trojans quickly bounced back, as strong play under their own basket and Grantsville turnovers enabled them to put points on the board. After giving up its fifth free throw, Morgan went on a 9-3 run to take a 13-7 lead into the next frame.
It was Grantsville’s turn to struggle at the onset of the second quarter, as man-to-man coverage by Morgan kept the Cowboys at the perimeter and unable to drive inside for easy points. To make matters worse, Grantsville struggled to hit three-point shots. However, as the second quarter rolled along, the Cowboys managed to chip into the Tigers’ lead and knotted the game with a minute before the half.
After the team began hitting timely threes, Grantsville went into halftime tied with Morgan at 21-21.
With more of the same defensive pressure by the Tigers at the start of the third quarter and fouls committed by Grantsville, both teams played a tightly contested eight minutes with the Cowboys pulling away with a slight lead. After turning over the ball nine times in the first half, Grantsville turned things around and managed to get steals off Morgan and was quick to loose balls.
At the end of the third, the Cowboys held a 33-29 advantage as the teams prepared for the final quarter.
Grantsville opened the game up in the fourth, going on an 8-0 run to extend its lead to double digits. Despite Morgan’s ability to keep pace afterwards, the team was ultimately unable to gain any ground on the Cowboys and were unable to get any closer than a five-point deficit.
On top of that, Grantsville kept Morgan at arms reach with impressive ball management that ate up precious time for the Tigers. As the game wound to a close, the Cowboys came away with a 52-43 win to advance to the semifinals on Friday.
In that tilt, Grantsville will face the No. 1-ranked Manti Templars for the pair’s first meeting of the year. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m and the game can be streamed on https://teamhive.live/
You keep calling Morgan “the tigers”. Morgan’s mascot is the Trojans