High school basketball: Bountiful clinches region title with victory at Olympus

HOLLADAY — For the second time this season, Bountiful's team of juniors bested Olympus' team full of seniors.

The result is a fifth straight region championship for the Braves.

Bountiful's five starting juniors showed poise beyond their years Tuesday night in an impressive 62-58 win on Olympus' home floor, a gym Bingham couldn't even win in earlier this season.

"It was a great win for us. We're happy to win a championship here because that's a great team, they really are," said Bountiful coach Mike Maxwell, whose team wrapped up Region 6 with an 11-1 mark and dropped Olympus to 10-2 with its second win over the Titans this year.

For three quarters, Bountiful hung around, trying to stay within striking distance, which wasn't too difficult with Olympus' shooting struggles. In the fourth quarter, though, Bountiful methodically opened up an 11-point lead and then knocked down just enough free throws to protect it in the final minutes.

"They showed all kinds of composure tonight. It was a loud crowd, tough gym," said Maxwell. "They got down early. No panic, they just kept running their stuff."

Nick Williams and McKay LaSalle led the way for Bountiful with 15 points apiece, while point guard Dillon Salazar was spectacular with 13 points and nine assists.

"It was a team thing, that's what we've always preached," said Maxwell.

It was LaSalle's leaning, off-balanced baseline jumper at the third quarter buzzer that put Bountiful ahead for good at 37-36, a lead he extended to 40-36 with a quick 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter.

It was one of only two 3-pointers for Bountiful compared to nine for Olympus, which is usually a lethal combination for visiting teams in the Titans' tiny gym. That wasn't the case for Bountiful, though, as it shot 47 percent from the floor, and an even more impressive 56 percent in the second half.

Leading 44-43 midway through the fourth quarter, the Braves made their move with a 7-0 run over the next two minutes to open up a 51-43 lead with 2:21 remaining.

Bountiful knocked down 11-of-16 free throws the rest of the way to keep Olympus at bay.

The Braves will now await the winner of Saturday's 4A first-round game between the No. 4 seed from both Region 7 and Region 8. Olympus, meanwhile, can begin making plans for its second-round game at Sky View next Tuesday.

Considering that Bountiful lost to Bingham by 38 points earlier this year, Maxwell is tickled with the momentum his team is taking into the 4A state tournament.

"I'm just proud of the maturity these kids have shown. With the kind of start we had, nobody expected anything out of these juniors," said Maxwell. "They've just slowly said we're going to get better coach and take one step at a time and build. They listened and did what they're supposed to."

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