From Deseret News archives:
High school boys basketball: Huskies post win over Judge by committee
Only one starter returned and a tough preseason schedule awaited the mostly fresh-faced crew this time around.
If Hillcrest is supposed to be an underdog though, it didn't look like it on Tuesday night. The Huskies used a brand of smothering defense that has become their trademark in recent seasons to pull out a 52-45 home victory over defending 3A champion Judge Memorial.
"We've been telling them from day one they're a good team," said Hillcrest coach Brad Tingey, whose team denied Judge coach Jim Yerkovich the chance to earn his 600th victory.
The Huskies certainly made it a chore for the Bulldogs to get much of anything going on offense. Judge shot only 32 percent from the field for the game and 17 percent in the fourth quarter.
Much of it came from Hillcrest forcing the Bulldogs to play at a slower pace than normal. The worst part for Judge wasn't missing shots, but struggling to get a second crack at the basket. Hillcrest outrebounded the Bulldogs 27 to 20 overall and virtually eliminated opportunities to get second-chance points for much of the game.
"If you get stops, then they're all over the place on defense because they're not catching up by scoring," senior forward Kyle Maughan said. "We got our stops and tried to take care of the ball. They were pressuring us hard, but we found a way to win."
Owning the boards helped Hillcrest create plenty of good looks at the basket. At times, it looked like the Huskies were running through layup drills. Jeremy Ulrich pushed the Hillcrest lead to twelve, at 39-27, on three straight baskets — a short floater followed by a pair of driving layups — in a 1 1/2 minute span.
"It's in our offense," Maughan said. "If you run our offense right, you'll get layups."
Maughan gave the Huskies their largest when he followed a pair of free throws with a jumper to make it 43-29 with 5:52 left in the fourth quarter.
Judge had struggled from the line all night, but used free throws to get back in the game. The Bulldogs drained nine of 12 free throws in three minutes and Stallon Saldivar, who led all scorers with 20 points, added a pair of baskets to make it 46-43 with 1:33 remaining.
Hillcrest effectively killed the drive on their next possession when Ulrich threaded his way through three defenders and found Curtis Blackmore for an easy layup that gave the Huskies a 48-43 advantage.
Tingey liked how everyone on the floor found different ways to make a key stop or key basket at the junctures when Hillcrest needed them most.
"That's the only way we're going to be successful," Tingey said. "We got to have success by committee."
E-mail: jcoon@desnews.com
