Basketball season begins

The Utah high school basketball season has started and, on opening night, I decided to check out the Cottonwood at Taylorsville game.

Why that game? It was convenient. I will try to see each team in the area at least once this season, choosing the best games of the night. I also want to make sure I don't go to the same games the local media is covering.

There was a decent crowd at Taylorsville, and it was a good game. Afterward, I visited with both coaches and learned a lot more about their teams. I also used a new scoresheet, which helped me compile game stats.

Here is a game story I wrote, as well as statistics. I hope to cover 1-2 games a week from now on.

By Bruce Smith
MatchupUT.com

TAYLORSVILLE – In the season opener for both teams, the Cottonwood Colts left the gym with a good feeling, while the Taylorsville Warriors wondered what might have been.
The Colts got 17 points from senior Raymond Chavez, and blitzed the Warriors with steady three-point shooting, to earn a 56-53 victory in a non-region game.
Afterward, however, Taylorsville coach Ron Burnside was upset that this one got away. He felt Taylorsville had a lot more it could have shown the home crowd.
“We had our big guy out and that hurt us,” said Burnside, referring to 6-foot-7 senior Yai Ajak, who reportedly had a death in his family. “We didn’t rebound. We needed to have that big guy.”
Ajak’s departure basically meant this was a battle between two evenly matched, perimeter-oriented teams, and Cottonwood came away with the win for two reasons.
* - The Colts were able to bury three-pointers. As a team, they connected on 9-16 shots from beyond the arc, led by Chavez and Parker Vassau, who had three apiece.
* - The Colts hit a big basket, and prevented Taylorsville from doing the same. Holding a three-point lead with two minutes left, Cottonwood held the ball for a minute before Chavez found Tim Glenn on a backdoor cut, and Glenn responded with a layup. Taylorsville had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds, but never got a good look on a three-point shot.
Cottonwood coach Dave McConnell was happy how his team responded in key times, especially near the end.
“We wanted to put them to sleep and make them think we were going to stall,” he said.
McConnell said Glenn, a senior who had four points and four rebounds, was his team’s player of the game.
“He did a lot of things tonight without the ball, so he gets the game ball,” he said. “We couldn’t have done it without him.”
Besides the Colts’ late-game basket, there were two other times that Cottonwood responded well.
Trailing 12-7, Cottonwood opened the second quarter with eight straight points, including a pair of threes by Chavez, and never trailed again. Then, after a scoreboard snafu caused caused a brief delay in the third period, the Colts came out and put in a pair of treys.
Taylorsville was able to stay close, thanks primarily to the play of Andrew Togiai, who led the Warriors with 15 points, and the shooting of the Wright brothers – Wesley and Brady – who added 14 and 13.
“We competed well as a team,” said Burnside. “We have two slashers and two shooters, and that showed tonight. But I sure would like to see how we would do if we were at full strength.”


Cottonwood 7 17 23 9 - 56
Taylorsville 12 8 19 14 - 53

COTTONWOOD (56) – Chavez 4-7 6-8 17, Carter 0-2 1-2 1, Glenn 2-2 0-1 4, Kristensen 1-3 3-3 5, Dooley 1-4 0-0 2, Smith 3-6 2-4 10, Lundquist 2-4 0-1 5, Vassau 3-3 1-1 10, Malugin 1-2 0-2 2. Totals 17-35 13-22 56.
TAYLORSVILLE (53) – Togiai 5-9 3-3 15, Meters 1-3 2-2 4, W. Wright 6-10 0-0 14, McCloyn 2-7 3-4 7, Roper 0-1 0-0 0, Saelim 0-1 0-0 0, B. Wright 4-7 3-4 13. Totals 18-40 11-15 53.
Total fouls: Cottonwood 12, Taylorsville 17. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: McCloyn. Three-point goals: Cottonwood 9-16 (Chavez 3, Vassau 3, Smith 2, Glenn). Taylorsville 6-19 (Togiai 2, W. Wright 2, B. Wright 2). Rebounds: Cottonwood 22 (Glenn 4), Taylorsville 24 (Togiai 4). Turnovers: Cottonwood 17, Taylorsville 17.