High school basketball: Jaden Jackson has big night in Skyline's win over Granger

SALT LAKE CITY – The Granger Lancers are having one of their best seasons in recent history. Their athletic lineup has allowed them to run-and-gun well enough that they’ll likely make the Class 5A state tournament.

Tuesday night, however, they ran up against the Skyline Eagles, who beat them 77-67 at their own game.

Jaden Jackson scored 27 points, and teamed with Taylor Lithgow, Michael Staes and DeSean Miller for 11 3-pointers as the Eagles won their second straight in convincing fashion and moved into a tie with Granger for third place in Region 2.

“They like to run and gun, and so do I,” said Jackson, a junior who tops all 5A scorers at 25.9 points per game. “We were really pushing the ball at them. Coach (Bernie Graziano) tells us to play defense first, but he sometimes lets us go with our offense when we get everyone involved.”

Skyline played with precision the entire way. Lithgow backed up Jackson with 20 points for the Eagles, and led the team with four 3-pointers. Staes had his third straight game in double figures with 16.

Skyline was also deadly from the free-throw line, hitting all eight shots in the fourth quarter to help prevent a Granger rally.

“You’ve got to give credit to them,” said Granger coach Kurt Schneider, whose team handled Skyline 63-48 at their place last month. “We pressed them, and tried to put a lot of pressure on the ball and they handled it, and then hit their shots.”

With the win, Skyline improved to 8-10 overall, but 6-3 in region. The Eagles seem to be following a similar pattern to last year, when they reached the quarterfinals of the 5A state tournament and gave eventual champion Alta its best game.

The Eagles began this year losing seven of their first eight, but they’re clearly a different team now. They don’t put a single player over 6-foot-4 on the court and have had to rely on their marksmanship and ball-handling skills. Jackson is one of the best pure shooters in the state and now he’s getting help.

Last week against Hunter, Jackson had 32 points and Skyline made 14 3-pointers in a 98-53 win over the Wolverines. The win over Granger proved that was no fluke.

“All of us try to be unselfish,” said Jackson. “But we’re definitely getting better at shooting 3-pointers.”

The key point Tuesday came in the third quarter. Trailing 30-23 at halftime, Granger rallied behind Isaiah Tademy, Aldin Alagic and Deng Deng to eventually tie the game at 35 on Deng’s 3-pointer.

The Lancers seemed to have grabbed the game’s momentum, but the Eagles responded with a trey by Lithgow and then a fast-break basket by Staes. They continued to make plenty of big plays and were never really threatened again.

Lithgow had one of his best games of the season. He scored 14 points in the second half alone and was deadly from the free-throw line, hitting all eight of his shots.

Tademy led Granger with 22 points. Deng, who was in foul trouble in the first half, finished with 16, while Alagic had 14.

Bruce Smith is owner of Matchup, a Utah-based company that provides high school sports teams with various publications. For information, see www.matchupUT.com.