"Yeah, I'm really pleased," Ridgeline head coach Kyle Day said. "I feel like that's one of the strengths of our team is our balance and our ability to have anybody, any of really all our guys who play in the rotation, we have confidence in them scoring. So, I was really pleased with the balance there and the unselfish play they exhibited to open the fourth (quarter)."

Ray Robins scored four points during a 6-0 Mountain Crest spurt at the very end of the third quarter to pare the hosts' deficit to 45-41. All of a sudden the Mustangs were right back within striking distance of the Riverhawks, who immediately turned to 6-foot-9 center Jagger Francom to right the ship.

Francom did just that by scoring on post moves on Ridgeline's first two possessions of the fourth quarter. Kreyton Jenks then knocked down a big 3-pointer off the bench, Cam Blotter converted on an old fashioned three-point play and Luke Sorenson scored down low on a nice pass by Francom. The Riverhawks maintained a double-digit advantage the rest of the way.

"It's always a point for us to get Jagger going and Luke going because we feel like it's a strength of ours that not many teams have two (big) guys like that," Day said. "But these (MC) guys have good big guys that made it really hard at the beginning, but I thought Jagger was just tremendous to start the fourth quarter, really making them pay for kind of guarding him (one on one)."

The Riverhawks (12-3, 3-1) got off to a slow start offensively, but found their groove in the second quarter and came through with at least 16 points in each of the final three quarters, including 19 in the second and 20 in the fourth. It was a balanced effort from Ridgeline, which had five athletes finish with nine or more points.

"I feel like we're tough to beat regardless of how we're playing, but tonight we especially played great and I'm just proud of my boys," Ridgleine guard Grady Workman said. "I'm proud of how we played tonight and we're going to continue to do big things this year."

It was a rough start for the Mustangs, who only mustered up four points during the first eight minutes of action. And yet Mountain Crest (7-9, 1-3) was able to limit its deficit to 10-4 heading into the second quarter, and immediately scored six straight points to open a very competitive quarter.

There was three ties and two lead changes during the second quarter before the Riverhawks gained some seperation late. Francom netted the final five points of the half, highlighted by a 3-pointer in the waning seconds to give Ridgeline a 29-22 lead it wouldn't relinquish.

"Tough game," MC head coach Chandler Smith said. "Ridgeline has a lot of talent and they know how to win. We made too many mistakes against a good team that doesn't make a lot of mistakes. We know how to play hard, we know how to fight, we just gotta do a better job at executing and that part falls on me."

Several of those Mountain Crest miscues were committed while trying to contend with Ridgeline's press. The Riverhawks routinely pressed the Mustangs after made baskets, free throws and timeouts, and it definitely made a difference.

"It kept them guessing I think a little bit," Day said. "You could see that and I think it did help us kind of disrupt their rhythm at times. They had a couple of kids come in and do some good things. I think (Josh) Arnell hit a few threes that were really big for them and we just needed to kind of mix up the rhythm a little bit after the run they had in the third quarter. But even then, I thought the press was good for us the whole game and led to some good things."

Arnell did indeed bury a trio of treys on his way to nine points off the bench from the Mustangs, who got 11 points from Oliver Nethercott, 10 from Rigdon Anderson and nine from Robins also off the bench.

Workman netted 12 of his game-high 16 points in the second half for the Riverhawks, who got 13 points apiece from Francom and Cox, 10 from Sorenson and nine from Blotter. Workman knocked down all six of his third-quarter free throws for Ridgeline, which went 15 for 19 from the charity stripe, including 11 for 13 after halftime. Sorenson threw down three dunks — two on alley-oops —and Cox also slammed one home. Cox drained a pair of 3-balls in the first quarter.

"It felt good," Workman said of his foul shooting. "I just felt like I was flowing today and it just came to me today, so I was just playing with confidence and putting them in."

OTHER REGION GAMES

Sky View outscored visiting Green Canyon by 10 points in the second quarter and 12 in the fourth on its way to a 71-49 triumph, while Logan traveled to Bear River, sparkled in the fourth quarter and left with a 68-53 victory. The Bobcats remained in sole possession of first place in the region standings, in the process.

Carter Davis and Hayden Howell teamed up to drain nine 3-pointers for the Bobcats, who extended their winning streak to five. Davis paced Sky View (14-2, 4-0) with 22 points, followed by Howell with 15, Tanner Davis with 14 and Logan Deal with 12. Howell buried at least one shot from downtown in every quarter.

Green Canyon (3-12, 0-4) outscored Sky View 17-16 in the first quarter, but the hosts limited the visitors to seven points the rest of the half and never looked back.

"I thought our defense (came up big)," SV head coach Kirk Hillyard said. "We had to get some stops. It took us a while to kind of figure out a few things defensively. They did a good job defensively against us in the first half and then we were able to move the ball and share it a little bit better against their zone, and knock down some shots in the second half. We had some good inside-out offense."

Jared Anderson sank four 3-balls after halftime on his way to a game-high 25 points for the Wolves, who got 12 points from Isaac Filimoehala.

Meanwhile, Logan exploded for 29 fourth-quarter points to turn a four-point advantage into a comfortable win. The Grizzlies (11-6, 3-1) are now tied with the Riverhawks for second place in the region standings.

Justin Anderson came through with 18 points for Logan, which got 17 points from Jordan Child, 16 from Carson Tuft and 12 from Jalen Arygle. The Grizzlies got the job done from the free throw line as they went 16 for 19.

"A tough road win," LHS head coach Mitchell Argyle said. "We had multiple guys step up at different times. The boys played some good team defense."

Kyver Jensen finished with 15 points for the Bears (10-6, 1-3), while Bridger Barfuss chipped in with 13.

GIRLS HOOPS

Star Valley (Wyoming) rallied late to force overtime and then pulled away from visiting Preston by a 37-30 scoreline. The score with knotted up at 27-27 after four quarters of action.

Brytlee Harris and Ellie Nelson scored 11 points each to pace Preston (1-16).

"We missed several key rebounds and got in foul trouble," Preston head coach Kamille Kunz said. "We lost Brytlee at the end of regulation to fouls and couldn't get back into an offense."