4A boys high school basketball: Minus top scorer, Braves still roll

WEST VALLEY CITY — When adversity was shoved in its face, Bountiful's boys basketball team embraced it and is now two wins from a state championship.

With Bountiful leading scorer Sean Carey watching his team's quarterfinal game with Mountain View in a jacket and tie after violating team rules, his teammates picked up the slack in a big way. The Braves played one of their best games of the season Thursday night, rolling to the 57-44 4A quarterfinal victory at the E Center.

The Braves led the entire game, and by as many as 19 at one point in the fourth quarter. The win moves Bountiful into today's 4A semifinals against No. 1 Provo — a game the suspended Carey will miss as well.

"We feel for Sean, every guy on this team feels for Sean," said Bountiful coach Mike Maxwell. "We're just trying to rally around him. We're trying to win for him so we can get him back here with us for that Saturday night (championship) game. That's our motivation, that's our drive."

If Bountiful performs against Provo the way it did against Mountain View, Carey has a decent shot at playing one more high school basketball game following his two-game suspension.

Spurred on by defensive specialist Jeff Moncur early, the Braves raced to an 11-2 lead just a few minutes into the game. Even when Mountain View closed to within 20-17 late in the first half, the Braves hunkered down defensively and increased the lead to 26-19 by halftime.

"It made these guys focus a little bit more, made them a little bit tougher, how to play as a team on offense and defense and shut guys down," said Maxwell.

Bountiful pulled away for good in the third quarter with Travis Parrish and Christian Taylor combining for all 17 of their team's points, extending the lead to 57-44.

As efficient as the offense was, it was Bountiful's defense that Maxwell was most satisfied with.

"I told them it wasn't going to be the offense. This team will find a way to take care of Carey's points, but the thing I was looking for was will we take care of the ball, not have turnovers, and get rebounds," said Maxwell.

Bountiful only turned it over seven times, and was only outrebounded 29-28.

Parrish finished with a game-high 19 points for the Braves, with Taylor adding 17 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out in the final minute.

The Braves have dealt with plenty of adversity already this year. Projected starter Chris Maxwell missed virtually all of region play dealing with personal issues, and now the Braves are being forced to win in the playoffs without their top player.

"It's an emotional roller coaster. Our first and foremost concern is Sean Carey. We want to take care of that boy's life, this is a basketball, it means nothing compared to taking care of him," said coach Maxwell. "If he can learn something from this message it's going to carry through to the rest of his life, then it's worth every game we could lose or win."

E-MAIL: jedward@desnews.com