From Deseret News archives:

Miner magic — Dream shot is reality for 5A winner Bingham

Published: Monday, March 6, 2006 1:10 p.m. MST
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WEST VALLEY CITY — Bingham's Brett Sommerville now has lived out the basketball fantasy so many kids dream about on the driveway. Ten seconds on the clock, it's the state-championship game against your archrival, the game is tied and you're bringing the ball up the court.

That was Sommerville's reality at the E Center on Saturday.

Curling around a screen set by his best friend, Sloan Baker, Sommerville took one dribble into the lane and let fly a soft 8-footer that found nothing but net at the buzzer to clinch Bingham's 61-59 victory over Riverton for the 5A championship.

"I couldn't have scripted it better," said Sommerville, who finished with 13 points. "That stuff doesn't happen in life, that's movie stuff."

It was Bingham's first title since 1990, and the eighth in school history.

"He slipped it down the middle and got a good-looking 8-footer," Bingham coach Mark Dubach said. "Brett was shooting the ball no matter what because he's the best player in the state of Utah."

Sommerville's heroics capped a fantastic championship game that featured so many players making big plays that at times it resembled an intense game of pick-up basketball.

The first half was played at a freakish pace, with Riverton leading the way. Up 14-11 after the first quarter, the Silver Wolves made their first eight shots in the second quarter to open up a 32-19 lead.

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Eight of those 16 points came from Morgan Grim, as Riverton was clearly try to establish its dominant junior post player. Entering the championship game, Grim was averaging 23.3 points in three state tournament games.

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Bingham battled back late in the half to make it a 35-28 game at the break. Most teams would have been a little tense down seven at the half, but not the Miners. Back on Feb. 17, Bingham trailed Riverton by 10 going into the fourth quarter of their region game, then rallied for the 60-58 win.

That confidence and a halftime defensive adjustment proved to be the difference for the Miners.

"We just made a commitment coming out of that locker room that we were going to play man-to-man defense, quit screwing around with other stuff and make a commitment to defense, and good things would happen," Dubach said.

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Image

Riverton's Stephen Baker, top, and Bingham's Sloan Baker battle for a loose ball in the Miners' championship victory Saturday evening.

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