3A boys high school basketball: No. 1 Bear River survives against Emery

WEST VALLEY CITY — Bear River's 57-51 win over Emery in the 3A quarterfinals on Thursday morning ended just how Bears guard Chris Brower dreamt it on Wednesday night.

With the final seconds ticking off the clock, Brower lofted an alley-oop pass to center Wade Bronson, who then followed through with one of his patented dunks. The play brought Bear River's large traveling fan base out of their seats, and it was the same way the Bears closed out their 70-67 win over Logan in their Region 11 finale two weeks ago.

"I had a dream last night that was the way the game was going to end," Brower said. "It was icing on the cake."

It was a sweet ending for the Bears, but very little about the rest of their win went according to plan. Bear River advances to play Juan Diego in the 3A semifinals tonight.

It was a rare close call for the Bears, who improved to 21-1. Only four of Bear River's victories have come in single digits this season.

Bear River overcame foul trouble by Bronson and guard Isaac Ericksen, as well as an outstanding upset bid by Emery. The game was close throughout, as neither team led by more than five points until Bronson's dunk to close the game.

The game was tied 51-51 with less than a minute to play after the Bears squandered a five-point lead. Ericksen, who missed the front end of a one-and-one situation a few seconds earlier, made two foul shots to give Bear River a 53-51 lead. After a stop, Matt Weyland sank two more free throws to give the Bears a four-point cushion with 23.9 seconds left in the game.

"That (missing another free throw) wasn't something I was going to let happen again," Ericksen said. "I knew my brothers, which are my teammates, would get it back. I hit those foul shots and I was just like, 'We got this.'"

The Bears trailed the Spartans by three early in the fourth quarter before outscoring the Spartans 8-0 during the next six minutes of play.

Bronson picked up his fourth foul midway through the third quarter and senior Tyson Taylor took his place. Taylor didn't provide the highlight-reel plays that Bronson is capable of, but he did his job defending and rebounding. And that's exactly what the Bears needed to grind out their victory.