Boys basketball: Weber uses dominant third quarter to rally past West Field
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- Weber High’s Derik Bowden (10) gets into the lane against West Field defenders on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Pleasant View.
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- West Field’s Jordan Harrison, right, tries to make a move as Weber’s Ben Olpin (3) defends on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Pleasant View.
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- West Field’s Daxton Laughter (3) and Weber’s Jace Rydalch (4) signal their thoughts on an out-of-bounds ball on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Pleasant View.
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- Weber High’s Ryder Howe (2) hangs on against the defense of West Field’s Cason Malan (21) and Jaxon Slaugh (4) on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Pleasant View.
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- West Field’s Jordan Harrison, left, rises to shoot as Weber’s Ryder Howe closes to contest the shot on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Pleasant View.
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- Weber High’s Brandon Crockett (5) surveys the floor as West Field’s Jaden Fowers (2) defends on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Pleasant View.
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- Weber High’s Thomas Packer (1) shoots over the defense of West Field’s Jaxon Slaugh (4) on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Pleasant View.
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- Weber High boys basketball head coach Landon Cosby speaks to his team on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Pleasant View.
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- West Field’s Jaxon Slaugh drives to the hoop against Weber on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Pleasant View.
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- West Field’s Jaxon Slaugh (4) moves on the perimeter as Weber’s Ben Olpin (3) looks on during a game Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Pleasant View.
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- West Field’s Daxton Laughter, center left, drives the ball as Weber’s Ben Olpin (3) pursues Daxton Laughter 3, Ryder Howe 3 on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Pleasant View.
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- Weber High’s Ryder Howe, right, tries to scoop a shot past West Field defenders Cason Malan (21) and Jaden Fowers on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Pleasant View.
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- West Field’s Jaden Fowers (2) drives the lane against Weber’s Brandon Crockett on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Pleasant View.
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- West Field’s Daxton Laughter, right, scoops a layup against Weber’s Brandon Crockett (5) on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Pleasant View.
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- Weber High’s Derik Bowden (10) shoots against West Field on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024, in Pleasant View.
PLEASANT VIEW — The way the third quarter of Weber High’s boys basketball game against West Field ended was a microcosm of how the period went.
Ryder Howe sent the home crowd into a frenzy with a chase-down block of a layup attempt just moments after a turnover that put the Warriors faithful in complete disbelief because a foul wasn’t called.
Weber outscored West Field 19-2 in the third quarter, turning a 9-point deficit into an 8-point advantage, and went on to win 67-54 on Tuesday evening.
“The play is never over,” Howe said. “The play is never done, so whenever we have a chance to hustle and go get our chance, I’m going to block every time.”
On offense, Howe contributed all 7 of his points for the game in the third quarter and the Warriors shot 61.5% (8 of 13) in the period.
“We know everyone on the team can play,” Howe said. “So if we give it to our bigs, then they can do their thing and then they can drive in and give it to the guards and we can shoot, too. I feel like everyone can go at any time.”
Brandon Crockett led Weber with 18 points and four other Warriors players reached double figures. Derik Bowden had 12 points while Ben Olpin, Luke Bingham and Thomas Packer each added 10.
Olpin, Bingham and Packer had 24 of their 30 combined points in the second half.
“They’re a tough group,” Weber coach Landon Cosby said. “They’re together. They’ve played together for a long time. They don’t care who gets the credit. They’re willing to share the ball and they’ve bought into that, and when that happens, we can do some good things.”
The Warriors outscored the Longhorns 41-19 in the second half after a dismal second quarter where West Field outscored Weber 18-7 to take a 35-26 lead into the break. The Longhorns used a 16-0 run in the second quarter to temporarily break the game open in their favor.
“They’re a good team and they came out ready to go, and we were a little bit on our heels and they shot the ball really well in the first half,” Cosby said. “I think we just kind of got away from some things that make us successful. Playing defense is one of them, getting up, pressuring and then taking good shots.
“And that was our message at halftime, and so I think in that third quarter, we were able to string some stops together and not let them dictate to us what they wanted to do — made them a little uncomfortable. We were able to get some steals and then that allowed us to get out into transition and get some easy ones so that they couldn’t set their defense up in the half court.”
Daxton Laughter’s torrid shooting fueled West Field’s first-half success. Laughter scored 17 points on a perfect 6-of-6 shooting, including 5 of 5 from beyond the 3-point arc, in the opening half.
“He is efficient, but he doesn’t look to score much,” Longhorns coach Mike Russell said. “He’s a pass-first point guard. He tries to get everyone else involved. And we would like him to look to score the ball more, as you can see. He takes good shots, and I think that has a lot to do with his efficiency, but he’s one of our most consistent players offensively because of that. … He played well, thankfully, or else we would have gotten blown out of the gym.”
Laughter finished with 20 points, while 6-foot-6 freshman forward Drew Faddis added 13, including three 3s, for West Field.
Both teams shot the ball well in the opening quarter, combining to make eight of the first nine shot attempts to be tied at 11-11 three minutes into the contest. Weber (8-4) led 19-17 at the end of the first quarter.
After falling behind 21-17 early in the second quarter, West Field (6-5) went on its surge. Jaden Fowers knocked down a 3 and Laughter followed with a layup in transition to give the Longhorns a 25-21 lead and compel the Warriors to call a timeout, much to the delight of the West Field supporters in attendance.
Laughter made sure the timeout didn’t stop momentum by knocking down a 3 and then, following a Jaxon Slaugh basket, Laughter hit another 3, ballooning the Longhorns’ lead to 33-21.
Bowden tallied Weber’s only field goal of the second quarter with a 3 with just over a minute left in the period.
The shooting success flipped in the third quarter as the Warriors hit seven of their first eight shots while the Longhorns missed their first seven shots. Weber started the third quarter on a 14-0 run.
West Field’s offense got going again in the final quarter but not enough to keep up. Exemplifying the hustle Weber showed throughout the second half, Bingham missed a shot close to the basket late in the fourth quarter and couldn’t get the rebound — but immediately ripped the ball back into his possession and put it in for a layup.
Both teams made 11 3s. The Warriors shot 11 of 23 while the Longhorns made 11 of 24.
“We’ve got to get better defensively,” Russell said. “We spend a lot of time on defense. Our guys probably hate practice because three-fourths of it is defense and assignments and who does what and when to help, and we’ve just got to continue to drill that because I feel like offensively, we have a team that can score the ball, and so we’ve just got to get better defensively.”
BOUNTIFUL 85, BOX ELDER 63
BRIGHAM CITY — Box Elder fell behind 30-17 after one quarter and could get no closer in a region-opening loss to Bountiful (7-2, 1-0 Region 5).
Mayson Jeppsen led Box Elder (0-10, 0-1) with 14 points. Gunnar Gunderson and Ryan Jenson each scored 11 points with three 3-pointers.
PLEASANT GROVE 72, LAYTON 68
HOLLADAY — Layton outscored Pleasant Grove 17-13 in the fourth quarter but it wasn’t enough in a loss in the Utah Autism Holiday Classic at Olympus High.
Jonah Fullmer led Layton (9-3) with 20 points. Karter Miller scored 19 points with three 3-pointers. Sam Romer added 18 points.
LAYTON 83, COTTONWOOD 81 (OT)
HOLLADAY — Layton won the second quarter 26-18 to get back in the game, then outscored Cottonwood 8-7 in overtime for a win Monday in the Utah Autism Holiday Classic at Olympus High.
Sam Romer led all scorers with 30 points and six 3-pointers for Layton. Karter Miller scored 18 points with two treys. Jonah Fullmer tallied 16 points and Jack Godderidge added 14 points.
VIEWMONT 64, ROY 45
BOUNTIFUL — Viewmont (5-6, 1-0 Region 5) outscored Roy in every quarter.
Colby Frokjer led Roy (2-8, 0-1) with 20 points with eight rebounds, making three 3-pointers. Tripp Randall added 9 points and six rebounds.
JUAB 84, BEN LOMOND 54
NEPHI — Korver Van Beekum made five 3-pointers on his way to 25 points and hauled in seven rebounds as Ben Lomond fell Monday at Juab.
Jaerdan Van Beekum added 11 points and two treys for Ben Lomond (4-8). Zeb Whetton tallied 4 points and six boards.
SCORES, NO STATS REPORTED
Northridge 74, Clearfield 69 (OT)
Bonneville 45, Woods Cross 43
Morgan 66, Uintah 49 (Mon.)
La Mirada-CA 74, Layton Christian 49 (Mon.)
Justin B. Johnson contributed to score reports.
Contact Standard-Examiner editor Ryan Comer at rcomer@standard.net.
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