Miners claim emotional victory

WEST JORDAN — Bingham guard T.J. Ford struggled to fight back tears shortly after he starred in the Miners' 52-46 win over West Jordan on Friday night.

The tears weren't flowing because he had just played his best game of the year, or because Bingham had just clinched its fourth consecutive region championship. The reason for Ford's emotional display was that his friend and teammate, Kyle Harrison, was sitting just a few feet away from him in the Miners' locker room.

Harrison, who led the team in scoring until he broke his foot five weeks ago, is on crutches and out for this season — his senior season. Ford and Harrison have played in the same backcourt for years, and it's been a huge adjustment for Ford and the rest of the Miners to get by without Harrison.

"It's hard without him," said a choked-up Ford. "We've dedicated the season to him. We're doing it for ourselves as a team, but since he can't play, we got his back, too."

The Miners didn't need any extra motivation to avenge an earlier loss to the Jaguars, but seeing Harrison wearing street clothes and sitting next to his crutches made Bingham unbeatable on Friday night.

Ford played much better in Friday's rematch than he did in the first meeting between the two teams. This time, he scored 18 points and hit a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter to give the Miners a 44-42 lead. The 3-pointer was big, because Bingham had just played a terrible third quarter in which it relinquished an eight-point halftime lead and gave all of the game's momentum to West Jordan.

Miners coach Mark Dubach said he challenged Ford to take advantage of what he does best — using his speed to get to the basket and creating shots for his teammates. — especially because he didn't do that the first time the two teams played.

"T.J. played the best he's played all year," Dubach said.

The Miners played one of their best defensive quarters of the season in the fourth period. They held West Jordan to just four points in the fourth, and kept them scoreless in the game's final 5:10.

A layup by Parker Jenkins with two minutes left in the game gave Bingham the lead for good at 47-46. Remington Peck made four foul shots in the game's final minute to seal the win for the Miners.

Bingham seemed to be out of the region-title race after it lost back-to-back games to West Jordan and Riverton earlier in the season. It was the first time the Miners had lost league games since the 2004-05 season.

"Losing the first one was huge for these kids mentally," Dubach said. "The second one was, 'Wow, we might be in trouble.' But they bounced back very well. I didn't think we had any chance to win the region title. I still can't believe it."

Winning it without Harrison makes the achievement even more remarkable. The Miners are still adjusting to playing without him, but on Friday night, they proved that they are a resilient bunch.

"We felt like we needed to get better every day (since the loss to West Jordan)," Ford said. "I feel like we came out and proved we're the better team tonight."

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