5A boys high school basketball: Davis finds a way to overcome Pleasant Grove in a nail-biter

WEST VALLEY CITY — Davis found a way, that's about the only way to describe what unfolded at the E Center Wednesday night.

After squandering a fourth-quarter lead against Pleasant Grove and losing momentum completely, the Darts found a way. They found a way to knock down free throws, bury big 3-pointers and harass C.J. Wilcox relentlessly, and in the process punched their ticket to the 5A semifinals with a thrilling 60-54 overtime victory over the Vikings. Davis next plays West Jordan.

"It could've gone either way," said Davis coach Jay Welk.

Indeed it could've. Not only did P.G. star forward Wilcox have a deep 3-pointer come up just short at the regular buzzer, but the Darts could've easily collapsed mentally a few minutes earlier when Pleasant Grove scored the first 11 points of the fourth quarter to pull ahead 47-43 with five minutes remaining for its first lead of the game.

The run was aided by a technical foul from Welk and two 3-pointers by Sefa Tanoai and Wilcox.

Over the next two minutes Davis responded with arguably its three biggest shots of the season. Jordan Welk buried a 3-pointer to trim P.G.'s lead to 47-46, and after a Tanoai lay-up Trevor Daniels knocked a three of his own tying the game at 49-49.

Pleasant Grove immediately regained the advantaged on Calder Bonnett's only jumper of the game, but Davis' Kevlin Taylor responded with a third straight 3-pointer putting Davis in front 52-51 with 1:57 remaining.

"That was a huge shot, and the two things I liked about it, one, he had the courage to take the shot, and two that's his shot. That's the perfect shot in the flow of our offense," said Welk.

Taylor finished the game with 11 points on three 3-pointers, while Cowser led the Darts with 17 points. Cowser came up particularly huge in overtime, but the Darts first had to dodge several scary moments in the final two minutes of regulation.

Tanoai appeared to regain the lead for the Vikings on a pair of free throws, but a lane violation negated the second make and kept the game tied at 52-52. Welk missed a jumper that would've tied the game in the final seconds, but Pleasant Grove had enough time to call a time-out and Wilcox nearly buried the winner at the buzzer.

Coach Welk believes the shot came up a bit short because of tired legs.

"The work we did on him early in the game helped late," said Welk. "It's not try to defend him after he catches, our thing was we don't want him to catch. C.J. is having to work hard for the ball."

Wilcox still finished with 17 points, but he struggled from the field on 6-of-18 shooting.

Cowser opened overtime with a lay-up, but his two clutch free throws with 2:04 remaining proved to be the difference putting the Darts ahead for good 56-54.

"James Cowser has been in big games and big situations, and he's a kid that's just not intimidated," said Welk.

Davis iced the victory by making 4-of-5 free throws in the final 30 seconds after Wilcox missed a short jumper that could've leveled the score again at 56.

The Vikings finished the game with a slightly higher field goal percentage than Davis at 46 percent, but they couldn't quite overcome Davis' nine 3-pointers.

email: jedward@desnews.com