3A boys high school basketball: Juan Diego pounds Hurricane for quarterfinal win

WEST VALLEY CITY — Juan Diego's Tyler Bauman and Ajay Pizza were suspended for disciplinary reasons two weeks ago during the critical final week of the regular season. Their absence denied the Soaring Eagle a shot at the Region 8 title, forcing them into the state tournament as a No. 3 seed.

The duo has been making amends ever since.

Pizza scored 17 points and Bauman chipped in with 10 as Juan Diego upset No. 2 Hurricane 47-38 Thursday afternoon in the 3A quarterfinals at the E Center. With the victory Juan Diego advances to tonight's semifinals where it will face No. 1 Bear River at 7:30 p.m.

Those suspensions added to a year riddled with adversity for Juan Diego, but it's peaking at the right time and looking like a legitimate state title contender following its convincing victory over Hurricane.

Both teams got off to a rugged start tied 16-16 at the half, something Juan Diego coach Sonny Tangaro blamed on the early start time at the E Center, but the Soaring Eagle turned things around quickly in the second half.

"It's hard for young kids to play at different times, playing an early game their bodies aren't used to it and it takes some time to settle in," said Tangaro. "We were pleased to be tied at halftime with as bad as we played."

With the score level at 20-20 midway through the third, a jumper by Pizza and a three-point play by Pablo Coro helped extend Juan Diego's lead to 26-20. It never led by less than seven the rest of the way opening up a 41-30 lead at one point in the fourth quarter.

Juan Diego's commitment to the paint was the difference in the second half.

"We started to go at the hoop a little bit more rather than shoot outside shots. It's hard in this arena where the depth perception is so difficult," said Tangaro.

While Hurricane shot an abysmal 5 of 22 from the field in the second half and 11 of 40 for the game, Juan Diego made 10-of-15 shots in the second half with eight of those buckets coming on lay-ups.

Pizza scored 11 of his 17 points in the second half with Coro chipping in with nine of his 11 points after halftime as well.

In the loss, Zach Sorenson, Ryan Smith and Cory Hinton scored eight points apiece.

E-MAIL: jedward@desnews.com