Boys basketball playoffs: Defense keys Layton’s 31-point win over Lone Peak
Lancers race to 6A semifinals, will meet Davis in rivalry rematch
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- Layton High’s Karter Miller, left, flies for a layup past Lone Peak’s Enoch Mitchell during a 6A state quarterfinal Monday, Feb. 24, 2025, at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City.
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- Layton High’s Sam Romer (3) tries to drive as a Lone Peak player tugs his jersey during a 6A state quarterfinal Monday, Feb. 24, 2025, at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City.
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- Layton High’s Josh Checketts celebrates making a 3-pointer against Lone Peak during a 6A state quarterfinal Monday, Feb. 24, 2025, at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City.
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- Layton High’s Karter Miller (1) surveys the floor against Lone Peak during a 6A state quarterfinal Monday, Feb. 24, 2025, at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City.
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- Layton High’s Sam Romer rises to score against Lone Peak during a 6A state quarterfinal Monday, Feb. 24, 2025, at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City.
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- Layton High boys basketball players celebrate during a 6A state quarterfinal against Lone Peak on Monday, Feb. 24, 2025, at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City.
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- Layton High’s Nic Anderson (11) drives around Lone Peak’s Logan Brimhall (32) during a 6A state quarterfinal Monday, Feb. 24, 2025, at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City.
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- Layton High’s Brady Wilken puts in a basket against Lone Peak during a 6A state quarterfinal Monday, Feb. 24, 2025, at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City.
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- A Layton High player celebrates a 3-pointer during a 6A state quarterfinal against Lone Peak on Monday, Feb. 24, 2025, at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City.
SALT LAKE CITY — Two Northern Utah programs have painted themselves into the 6A boys basketball semifinals set for Wednesday afternoon.
An upstanding defense by No. 3 Layton, sailing away from No. 6 Lone Peak by an 86-55 score in Monday’s quarterfinal round at the Jon M. Huntsman Center, quickly revealed the opponent for No. 2 seed and Region 1 co-champion Davis in the semifinals.
Davis, shoving off No. 7 Westlake 65-59 in another quarterfinal contest, will meet the Lancers (21-4) for a third time this season Wednesday. It’ll be Layton’s second region opponent faced this postseason, now a weekend removed from a second-round win over No. 14 Syracuse.
Layton head coach Kelby Miller and his team were in the building for the Davis-Westlake contest just before taking the floor for a 31-point victory over the Knights (15-9).
“Even though we had to sit and watch that game, the message was stay focused on what we have and see what happens on Wednesday,” Miller said.
And focused the Lancers were, shutting down Lone Peak offensively from the jump and leaning on sophomore Karter Miller’s 26 points, five rebounds and five assists. Junior Jack Godderidge led the team with seven boards, adding eight points. Senior Joshua Checketts grabbed six more boards alongside 15 points.
Sam Suarez and Logan Brimhall scored 12 points apiece for Lone Peak. Eight Suarez rebounds led the floor.
Despite outrebounding Layton offensively 15-5 in the first half, Lone Peak struggled to cash in second-chance opportunities and opened the contest just 9 of 33 from the field.
On the other end, Kelby Miller credited Checketts with opening up the lane during the first half.
“We knew personnel going into this one and the guys were focused,” Kelby Miller said. “(Checketts) was big for us. … To set the tone early and get some buckets around the rim was huge. I loved the energy and effort from the beginning.”
Karter Miller, breaching double-digit scoring for a second consecutive postseason game, led Layton with 16 points and five rebounds in the first half alone. Up 11 after the first quarter, the Lancers dialed back from the field but maintained its grip on Lone Peak defensively, generating eight first-half turnovers en route to a 35-22 halftime lead.
Holding course, Layton produced an 11-2 run forcing a Lone Peak timeout less than three minutes into the third quarter. Shortly after resuming, Checketts buried a momentous 3-point basket helping the Lancers mount a 27-point advantage on the Knights by the fourth quarter.
Layton closed its quarterfinal win outrebounding Lone Peak 33-31 and giving away just seven turnovers compared to 13 by the Knights.
The Lancers opened the season 5-0 and defeated Lone Peak on the road in December. Heading into Monday, Kelby Miller felt confident about where his team’s talent sat but was more concerned with how they’d meet the challenge months removed from their last meeting.
“The goals were, how do we handle their pressure?” Kelby Miller said. “So not only take care of the basketball but try to capitalize on (Lone Peak) trying to play us that way. I thought (in) the first half they had way too many second-chance points for us so we really talked to the fellas at halftime about keeping them off the (offensive) glass.”
Layton and Davis will make their cases for a state championship bid Wednesday night at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m.
BOX SCORE
Layton 19 16 29 22 – 86
Lone Peak 8 14 15 18 — 55
LHS (86): Miller 26, Checketts 15, Allen 11, Fullmer 9, Godderidge 8, Romer 6, Miles 3, Randall 2, Wilken 2, Anderson 2, Brant 2.
LP (55): Suarez 12, Brimhall 12, Cogswell 10, Toolson 6, Fortheringham 6, Simon 5, Mitchell 4.
Connect with sports reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net and X @ctbecker.
