High school basketball: Soaring Eagle learn to fly again at just the right time in 3A tournament

DRAPER — Juan Diego's regular-season finish had coach Sonny Tangaro worried as his team prepared to open the 3A boys state basketball tournament at home Saturday evening against Richfield.

The Soaring Eagle lost three of their last four games, and Tangaro wasn't feeling any better when they fell behind 7-2 in the first quarter.

But Juan Diego turned up its defense and got several big plays from Morgan Hesleph and Jalin Ames to rally for the 44-37 win.

"Our lack of effort early really hurt us," said Tangaro, who kept his team on the court after the game for some additional practice. "Our defense got going and then turned the game around."

Juan Diego forced three Richfield turnovers early in the second quarter and that led to five straight points by Ajay Pizza, who finished with a game-high 15 points. Then Hesleph made one of several fine defensive plays when he blocked a shot. Pizza grabbed the ball out of the air and fired a pass to Mark Krueger for a layup.

The Soaring Eagle took the lead for good in the third quarter, thanks to Ames, who scored all seven points in a short span, and also grabbed seven rebounds.

Ames, Krueger and Trever McFalls were on Juan Diego's championship football team and weren't ready to play in Juan Diego's 52-40 victory at Richfield early in the season.

"They were good then, and they're so deep now with those guys," said Richfield coach Rand Janes. "They got us going too fast, and took us out of our game."

That was Juan Diego's plan at halftime. The locker-room discussion must have been detailed because the team returned late and the players had to hustle on to the court to begin play.

Richfield had to deal with full-court pressure after that. Hesleph, who had an off night offensively, was a constant thorn to Richfield's guards on defense and was responsible for a good portion of the Wildcats' turnovers.

What kept Richfield in the game was its shooting. The Wildcats shot 39 percent for the game, but made 8-of-14 shots (57 percent) in the first half and had plenty of momentum. Tyler Thomas led the way with 12 points, and Eric Peterson was a threat from the perimeter and joined Robert Torgerson with seven points.

Torgerson scored four quick points in the first quarter as Richfield grabbed the early lead, much to the delight of its fans who made the trip. However, he had foul trouble and spent a lot of time on the bench after that.

"That hurt us," said Janes. "He's a good player who can do it all. When he's out, we don't rebound as well."

Juan Diego held a slight rebounding advantage, which helped make up for its poor (37 percent) shooting. The Soaring Eagle shot 7-of-23 (30.4 percent) in the first half, but improved to 9-of-20 (45 percent) after that.