3A high school boys basketball: Wasatch’s magical playoff run comes to an end

Once again, the Wasps had at least eight scorers on the board. Pelo led the way with 13 points, followed by Jeff Murdock with 11 and Ballstaedt added 10. Pelo, Nate Dow and Chris Johnson each had seven rebounds for Wasatch.

After the third-place game, Lonnie Magnusson, who has plans to step down after this season as the Wasps' head coach, explained how difficult it was to come back and play a consolation game the following day after a bitter defeat. “It’s hard,” he said as he sighed and then paused. “We wanted to win it (state). We thought we could win it. It just didn’t go that way for us. But it’s been a rewarding season — it really has,” he said with a smile. “I’m proud of all the guys for never quitting and playing hard. It was a tremendous year for us.”

Kenny Bristow is a contributor to the Deseret News high school coverage for the Wasatch region. Email: kennywbristow@gmail.com