High school boys basketball: Copper Hills shoots past Granger for rousing win

WEST VALLEY CITY — If Granger could start over from scratch against Copper Hills, it's a safe bet the Lancers would scrap the zone defense they implemented the first time around.

For the Grizzlies, draining shots from the perimeter became as easy as making a wide-open layup. The best thing about it was they didn't have to work all that hard to get most of those 3-pointers.

Copper Hills had one open look after another. It was a perfect storm for the Grizzlies from outside and it added up to a comfortable 57-42 victory over Granger on Tuesday night.

"I just felt like we ran (our) plays really good," said senior center Steven Larson, who led the Grizzlies with 14 points and 10 rebounds. "We didn't force up shots or anything. Worked the ball around."

Using their effective long-range shooting, Copper Hills strung together two gigantic runs that put the game out of reach before the midway point of the second quarter.

Copper Hills opened the game on 13-2 run behind consecutive 3-pointers from Casey Hughes and Kaden Anseimo. The Grizzlies, it turned out, were just getting warmed up for an even bigger spurt.

After Tre Musgrow hit a pair of free throws and a runner to make it 13-6 with 2:18 left in the opening quarter, Copper Hills ripped off a 16-3 run — making it 29-9 with 5:40 to go before halftime.

Steven Cordovia came off the bench to bury a trio of 3-pointers to fuel much of that spurt. In fact, the West Jordan transfer and Nick Booth combined to bury long-range daggers on three straight possessions to open the second quarter.

Grizzlies coach Kent Smith made sure to get Cordovia — who finished with 14 points — plenty of looks from outside, figuring he had the right skills to pick apart Granger's defense.

"He normally plays some from the point, but we moved him to the wing against the zone because he's such a good shooter," Smith said. "He got three open looks and buried all three of them in the first half. He's streaky and he was on tonight."

Granger was limited by the fact T.J. Tapusoa did not dress for the game after being ejected from last Saturday's 55-35 loss to Riverton after picking up a pair of technical fouls.

Without Tapusoa on the floor, the Lancers seemed lost offensively. Musgrove, who led all scorers with 16 points, was the lone bright spot in the first half. Copper Hills didn't let anyone else in a Granger uniform become a factor.

The Lancers ended up scoring fewer points during the first half (16) than they produced in the fourth quarter (17).

"That was our main goal tonight — to play a good defense," Larson said. "That's what we focused on and that's what we did."

Smith hopes victories like this one will help Copper Hills gain enough confidence and experience to help the team keep pace with region rivals West Jordan, Riverton and Bingham.

" We're just trying to become a good basketball team to keep up with those fellas," Smith said.

E-mail: jcoon@desnews.com