High school basketball: Top-ranked Olympus topples Tooele on road

TOOELE — Let's face it. On paper, Tooele had little chance of beating Olympus in a Region 6 boys' basketball game on Tuesday night.

But against a Titans team playing with a purpose and motivated to make a statement after a couple of narrow victories in their last two region wins? The Buffaloes had no chance. Olympus, 4A's top-ranked team, played to its capabilities against an outmanned Tooele team and trounced the Buffaloes, 73-51. It was over early, as the Titans opened the game on a 16-3 run, built their lead to 26 in the second quarter and led by as many as 30 before coach Matt Barnes pulled his starters with 6 minutes left in the game.

"I'm very proud of my kids for the way we came prepared and the way we came focused and the way we executed early," Barnes said. "It really set the tone for the game. It was nice to see. It's been a while."

In their previous two games, the Titans beat Stansbury and East — teams that have a combined five victories — by a total of nine points. Olympus avoided another close call by playing its style of basketball. The Titans extended their defense, sped up the tempo and drained 3-pointers.

Nicholas Paulos hit five of Olympus' nine total 3-pointers in the first half, helping the Titans get out to their fast start. "It felt pretty good," Paulos said of his jumper on Tuesday night. "I was fortunate enough to get some good passes."

Interestingly, the Titans are shooting better from the field, from 3-point range and at the free-throw line on the road than they are at home. Paulos said that might be a byproduct of Olympus playing with more urgency away from home. "We try to get up on them early, get the crowd out of it," Paulos said. "As a team, we're probably trying to press it a little more."

The Titans improved to 3-0 in Region 6 and 11-1 overall. Tooele fell to 1-2 and 7-6. Olympus forward Connor Brady led all scorers with 24 points and Paulos had 16. Will Watkins made two 3-pointers and Ben Sonntag was a monster on the boards, especially in the first quarter.

Levi Vernon led Tooele with 11 points.

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