The Stansbury boys basketball team held off a late run to steal a 50-48 win over Cedar Valley on Tuesday in Eagle Mountain.
Stansbury sophomore forward Logan Richins finished with nine rebounds in the game, three of which came in the final 20 seconds that helped stymie the late comeback.
“It’s amazing that I got the opportunity to go in and show what I have and help our team get a win,” Richins said. “This win was important. That will hopefully help us get a first-round bye and a second-round playoff game.”
Aside from a meaningless 3-pointer as time expired, Stansbury limited Cedar Valley to a single field goal in the final 1:28.
“It was huge,” Stansbury head coach Joe White said. “We talked about rebounding all week, all year. We go as rebounds go, so for Logan to get those rebounds, it was huge. The timing of them, in the last 20 seconds, they were big.”
The Aviators blocked the first three Stansbury shots, in what looked to foreshadow the first quarter: Cedar Valley held the Stallions to four points through the first six minutes of the game.
Stansbury hit a trio of 3-pointers in the first quarter — two from sophomore guard Landen Giles in the final two minutes — to keep the deficit from getting out of hand.
The Aviators’ defensive scheme was to deny Stansbury senior guard Peyton Thevenot of all passing angles in an aggressive man-to-man defense.
Thevenot led the Stallions with 14 points from four 3-pointers.
“Peyton is crazy how he gets open and his shot is beautiful,” Richins said. “Cedar Valley’s defense worked really hard and I think they outwork a lot of teams. I think they’ll be really good in the future.”
At one point in the second quarter, Cedar Valley switched to an extended 1-3-1 zone.
Then, the Stallions went on a 10-0 run to close the first half, bookended by Richins’ floater in the lane to make it 20-16 with 3:51 and his putback bucket as time expired to give Stansbury a 24-20 lead at the half.
“Offensively, we just slowed down,” White said. “We missed some layups early, and you can’t have that, so it was just slow down a little bit, gather yourself early and go up strong.”
Stansbury extended the run into a 17-0 run over a six-and-a-half-minute span on either side of halftime to give the visitors an 11-point lead with 5:20 to go in the third quarter.
Giles also scored in double figures for Stansbury, finishing with 10 points. Forward Pae Tia ended with nine. Senior forward Jaden Jenkins chipped in seven, and forward David Spaulding another six.
Aviator senior Declan Whitmarsh led all scorers with 21 points as senior guard Carlos Monroy added another 15.
Stansbury improved to 13-7 and 6-4 in Region 10. The Stallions will next travel to Uintah (4-13, 2-7) on Friday.
Cedar Valley dropped to 9-11, 6-4 in Region 10. The Aviators will next face Ben Lomond (5-13, 3-6) on the road Friday.
Both games are scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m.