High school basketball: Miners hold off Titans in tight game

SOUTH JORDAN — Bingham head coach Mark Dubach knew his team's Tuesday night matchup with the Olympus Titans was going to be competitive for all 32 minutes of the game.

Even when Bingham grabbed its largest lead of 10 points early in the first half and when the Titans went up by seven points two different times during the third quarter, Dubach always excepted the game to go down to the wire.

In a game that saw eight lead changes and three ties, it wasn't until Connor Williams made a layup in transition with just 30 seconds left did the Miners put the game out of reach, setting up the 63-57 home victory.

"We know Olympus is a good team; we knew it was going to be a close game," Dubach said of the 3-2 Titans. "We were down most of the second half, so we're just happy (with the outcome)."

Bingham (6-1) took complete control of the game from the start, taking a 12-2 lead with 3:36 remaining in the first quarter. Senior Sean Larson led the Miner attack, scoring eight of his team's points during that run.

After a quick timeout, the Titans rallied and responded with four consecutive 3-pointers and a 19-4 run that spanned the end of the first quarter and the first three minutes of the second, giving Olympus a 21-16 edge.

"We tried to take away their high-post play. We knew they'd make some 3s but we felt like we needed to take away their high-post play," he said, adding that he felt it was a higher priority to limit the Titan's play inside.

While Olympus' shooters were on fire early, making five of their eight treys in the first 16 minutes, the heat cooled and the Titans missed key opportunities late in the game.

As the first half wound down, each team countered with its own mini-run, and the Miners went into halftime with a one-point lead, 26-25. The second half, however, began in just the opposite way the first quarter had started. Olympus jumped out into control, going on a scoring run and controlling all aspects of the game.

Just as Bingham had in the first half, the Titans outrebounded and outhustled the Miners for the majority of the third quarter, capturing their largest lead of seven points at 42-35 with two minutes left in the third period. It wasn't until Larson started attacking the basket again did Bingham pull back into contention.

"We just executed," Dubach said when asked what spurred the second-half comeback. "I didn't say anything special, we just started executing."