High school basketball: Judge ekes out win behind Crandall's defense

For 3 1/2 quarters, Trevor Bamgartner came up with one big shot after another to keep Wasatch in striking distance to knock off Region 10 leader Judge Memorial. At that point, Bulldog forward Dee Crandall decided he had seen enough heroics from Bamgartner.

Crandall made it his mission to keep the ball out of the junior guard's hands. If the Wasps were going to pull off the upset, they would have to do without their primary offensive weapon.

"Sometimes the best defense is making sure they don't even get the ball," Crandall said. "That's what I did — make sure he didn't get the ball so he didn't get any easy shots or any easy catches."

With Bamgartner — who scored a game-high 22 points — taken out of the equation, Wasatch failed to score a point in the final 3:55 of the game and Judge managed to hold on for a nail-biting 40-39 victory on Tuesday night.

It was an odd turn of events to see the usually potent Bulldog offense mired in a low-scoring affair. But Crandall liked how Judge was able to scratch out a victory in this situation.

As far as he and his teammates are concerned, it can only help them when the 3A tournament starts up later this month.

"Honestly, this is really the first time our defense has really won it for us," Crandall said. "Usually our offense comes through for us. It was really good our defense won it, because we need those games down the line."

Early on, it looked like offense would be the story once again. Judge jumped out to a 9-2 lead when Stallon Saldivar and Oliver Hughes each drained three-pointers. Saldivar added another from NBA distance to beat the first quarter buzzer and give the Bulldogs a 14-9 advantage.

But Wasatch rallied behind Bamgartner's playmaking abilities. He gave the Wasps their first lead, 21-19, on a fadeaway 3-pointer just 21 seconds into the second half.

From that point on, momentum shifted back and forth at will. Bamgartner used a stutter-step layup to put Wasatch up 27-24 with 3:22 left in the third quarter. Judge retook the lead, going up 34-32, when Charles Edmunds drained a 3-pointer and Saldivar added a pair of free throws.

Bamgartner scored his final basket when he hit a 3-pointer to give the Wasps a 39-38 lead with 3:55 remaining.

Judge retook the lead for good when Zach Myaer made one of two free throws with 57.3 seconds left.

The Bulldogs had chances to add to their lead — especially after Wasatch turned over the ball three times in the final 1:19 — but they misfired on their final five free throw attempts. Two misses came on the front end of one-and-one situations.

It didn't matter because Judge found a way to cancel out its own mistakes by applying defensive pressure to the Wasps.

"Any big game we have played over the last two years, somehow they find a way to win," Judge coach Jim Yerkovich said.

Having such a winning mentality has paid off in region play. The Bulldogs have not lost to a region opponent since 2005.

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E-mail: jcoon@desnews.com