Covering Olympus-Box Elder

Today was a fun day. I was getting ready to attend a local high school basketball game when James Edward, the prep editor of the Deseret News, called and asked me to cover a game.
He suggested the Olympus-Box Elder matchup, so I headed over there tonight. There wasn’t a big crowd, but it was an entertaining game.
Olympus won 50-36, but only pulled it out at the end, scoring the game's final 16 points. Afterward, I thought Box Elder coach Keith Mecham might be bent out of shape, but he was a class act.
I also debuted my new stat sheet, and it worked beautifully. There is a box score at the bottom of this blog (below). Now I'm able to keep multiple stats faster. I'm excited to cover future games.
As for this game, here are a few things I noticed:
* - Oly can't shoot. At least not yet. They hit just 35 percent of their shots (3-16 from three-point land). Point guard Joe Bourne threw up several bricks. He was 0-4 from the field and 2-5 from the free-throw line. Oly really doesn't have a true point guard. Bourne is the closest thing. He does other things well, but hit shot is off.
* - Box Elder guard Brant Mecham hit 0-12 shots, but at least he kept shooting. That's what a shooter does. Eventually those shots will fall. I know he was disappointed tonight, but he'll have great games, too. Coach Mecham wasn't worried.
* - Guard Nicholas Paulos didn't score. I kept waiting for him to make a difference in this game, but he never did. Coach Barnes said he has mononucleosis. Well, now I understand. I hope he gets better soon. He makes Oly a lot better team.
* - I got to the game early and spoke to a lot of Oly people, including coach Barnes, football coach Mike Smith, counselor (and amateur photographer) Julie Fairbourne and a few others. I like Olympus, and I also met some new people. It's also worth it to arrive early and get "in" to the game before tipoff.
Below is my game story, which I submitted to the Deseret News. There's also a detailed box score at the bottom. It appears I may also get to submit game stories to the Utahsportsaction.com website soon. I spoke to them today. That should be fun.

By Bruce Smith
For The Deseret News

Imagine the Olympus Titans as a light switch. For three and one-half quarters Friday night, it’s questionable whether or not it was working.
But for the last four minutes, there was no doubt.
Will Watkins scored 16 points, including the go-ahead three-point basket, as Olympus scored the game’s final 16 points and beat Box Elder 50-36 in a non-region game.
Obviously, the game was closer than the score indicated. Olympus led most of the way, but the Bees rallied behind the inspired play of guard Cody Eyre to take a 44-39 lead going into the final quarter.
“We played a good game. We limited them, and they’re a legitimate 70-point run-and-shoot team,” said Box Elder coach Keith Mecham.
That was true. Olympus was as a hot-shooting team last season, but this year’s team hasn’t looked so promising yet. Sharpshooter Nicholas Paulos has been hampered by an illness, and the team has yet to show the same marksmanship.
But the Titans scored the first four points of the fourth quarter and regained the momentum, forcing Mecham to quickly call a timeout. Unfortunately, it didn’t help.
“It is a gutty win,” said Olympus coach Matt Barnes, whose Titans improved to 3-0.
Barnes, of course, was more concerned with Oly’s third-quarter problem, an eight-minute time frame when Box Elder outscored the Titans 14-7. He noted that his team has had trouble immediately after halftime in each game this season, although that was only evident the last two games.
The Titans erased Box Elder’s lead quickly, forcing five fourth-quarter turnovers. Watkins, Connor Brady, Manny Riak, Joe Bourne and Spencer Harris scored to put the game away.
Box Elder didn’t score the last four minutes of the game. Eyre, who led the Bees with 13 points, hit some amazing shots early, but ended up 6-14 from the field because he always seemed to have a hand in his face in the fourth period.
The Bees’ leading scorer, Brant Mecham, also was handcuffed, but for the entire game. Mecham, the team’s leading scorer last year, whiffed on all 12 of his shots Friday. His only points came on 3-4 free throws.
“We did a nice job on him. He lit us up last year,” noted Barnes. “We really did turn up the defense in the last quarter.”
Keith Mecham noted that, too. He said once Watkins’ big trey gave Oly a 39-36 lead, his team also played differently.
“We were trying to put them away too early,” he said. “Once Watkins hit that shot, we kind of panicked.”
Box Elder was also forced to foul and Olympus, which hit just 13-22 charity shots for the game, hit most of them down the stretch.
Brady backed up Watkins with 15 points and Riak, who started in place of Paulos, had 10. Justus Brown and Chad Talbot had six points each for Box Elder. Talbot also had a game-high nine rebounds.

Box Elder 10 10 14 2 - 36
Olympus 13 9 7 21 - 50

BOX ELDER (36) – Munns 2-5 0-1 4, Eyre 6-14 0-1 13, Brown 3-7 0-0 6, Talbot 3-8, 0-0 6, Mecham 0-12 3-4 3, Barlow 1-2 2-3 4, Clawson 0-1 0-0 0, Mund 0-0 0-0 0, Jensen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-49 5-9 36.

OLYMPUS (50) – Riak 4-10 1-2 10, Bourne 0-4 2-5 2, Watkins 5-10 5-6 16, Brady 6-11 2-3 15, Sonntag 2-5 0-2 4, Pellatt 0-1 0-0 0, Paulos 0-2 0-0 0, Harris 0-3 3-4 3, Reynolds 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-47 13-22 50.

Total fouls: Box Elder 20, Olympus 13. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: None. Three-point goals: Box Elder 1-15 (Eyre 1), Olympus 3-16 (Riak, Watkins, Brady). Rebounds: Box Elder 31 (Talbot 9), Olympus 35 (Bourne, Brady 7). Turnovers: Box Elder 17, Olympus 9. Blocked shots: Box Elder 4 (Brown, Talbot, Mecham, Clawson), Olympus 1 (Bourne).