5A high school basketball: Alta dominates Syracuse

SANDY — The Alta Hawks controlled the tip off to start their 5A playoff matchup with the Syracuse Titans on Tuesday night. And then they went on to control every other aspect of the game.

Alta, the Region 4 champions, out-hustled, out-rebounded and out-ran the Titans en route to the 59-35 win on their home floor. And head coach Jim Barker said it all had to do with how well the Hawks shot the ball early.

The Alta squad built a 13-0 lead over the first four minutes of the game, sinking two fast-break layups and draining three 3-pointers in that time.

"We came out hot from the 3-point line," Barker said. "It was 13-0 and we made three 3s right there. If we shoot like that we're going to get leads quick."

Two of the three bombs came from Brayden Beckham, a key senior who wasn't even on the Alta roster last season.

"I always laugh because last year he played Junior Jazz and now he's starting for us," Barker said of the 6-0 guard who totaled nine points on three treys for the night. "That's a good game for him. He's been knocking shots down and he's been playing good defense so it's really nice to have him open up and knock some shots down when we really need it."

After a Syracuse timeout midway through the period, the Titans rallied and went on their own 9-1 run to finish the quarter, pulling within five at 14-9.

The Titans made a defensive adjustment heading into the second quarter, packing it in with a tight zone, and kept up with the Hawks for the next eight minutes. Junior Nike Winegar, who finished with a game-high 19 points, sparked his team's offense, scoring all 10 Syracuse points in the period, including hitting two baseline 3s.

Barker, however, had a talk with his inside players and Alta, again, went on a run.

"We just needed our post players to do a little more to actually post up players," said the coach. "They (Syracuse) pretty much packed in (the defense) and we missed a few shots so it got tight again. So we just focused on getting more of an inside game going, and then that opened up things a lot."

The Hawks ran away with a 16-3 third quarter, nailing two more 3s and scoring the remaining 10 points from the paint. Kyle Davis tallied six of his team-high 14 points in the period as Alta sufficiently put the game out of reach.

The Hawks now move into the quarterfinal round of the 5A state tournament where they will meet Skyline today at 5:30 p.m. at the Dee Events Center.

Previous to being upset in the first round last season, Alta had been eliminated in the quarterfinals five consecutive years after winning the state title in 2003.

But, in spite of the quick turnaround, Barker guarantees, "we'll be ready."

e-mail: sthomas@desnews.com