5A boys high school basketball: Bingham holds off gritty Weber

WEST VALLEY CITY — Bingham wasn't fooled at all by Weber's losing record. It was on hand to watch the Warriors upset Alta in the first round earlier this week and knew what its quarterfinal opponent was capable of.

The Miners also knew that Weber had limitations, most notably with its lack of depth. That shortage of personnel finally caught up with the Warriors in the fourth quarter.

Leading by just one after three quarters, Bingham upped the tempo even more in the fourth gradually pulling away for the 66-57 victory at the E Center Wednesday afternoon.

"The entire key was that Weber's kids got gassed," said Bingham coach Mark Dubach. "We just tried to take advantage of them not being able to play a lot of kids. So we tried to up-tempo it the whole game."

Weber knocked down enough 3-pointers — nine total — to hang with Bingham through the first three quarters but tired legs took its toll down the stretch.

Bingham made 9-of-10 field goals in the fourth quarter, all on lay-ups, opening up a 13-point lead at one point. It finished the second half shooting 70 percent, and 56 percent for the game.

The Miners needed everyone of those buckets too, because the No. 5 seed from Region 1 came to play.

"Coming into the start of the game I don't think we had as much focus as we should have," said Bingham's Remington Peck, who finished with 18 points, five rebounds and four assists. "That's one of the hardest playing teams I've ever played against. That coach had those kids playing hard."

Weber kept it close throughout the first half, only trailing 29-27 at halftime as Carson Fuller and Ryan Graves combined for five 3-pointers. Bingham seemed poised to pull away early in the third quarter with a 7-0 run that extended its lead to 36-27 with 5:03 remaining.

In a flash, the lead was gone. Capitalizing on several Bingham turnovers, Weber ripped off a quick 10-0 spurt on four Fuller free throws and a 3-pointer each from Graves and Swede Storey to take a 37-36 lead.

Weber had a chance to pad its mini lead further, but it missed two straight free throws and Bingham regained the 41-40 lead heading into the fourth.

Nate Girsberger helped his team seize momentum for good in the opening 30 seconds of the fourth quarter on a short jumper and then a steal and lay-up.

"He got ear-holed a little bit at halftime. They made a conscious effort to leave somebody open and he's the guy we put in to make those shots and he didn't in the first half, and he had something to prove and he proved it," said Dubach.

Girsberger finished with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting, while teammate Blake Krahenbuhl also finished with 12 points.

In the loss, Fuller led the way with 19 points with Graves adding 15.

Bingham advances to Friday's semifinals and will face nemesis Lone Peak, the same team that's eliminated it from the past two state tournaments.

E-MAIL: jedward@desnews.com