This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2008, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
RICHFIELD - The Manti Templars celebrated their Class 2A state title win over Parowan just like any boys' basketball team would, with the players and fans screaming their hearts out at midcourt of the Sevier Valley Center on Saturday night.
It was a nice reaction to the Templars beating the Rams 58-49 for their second state title in five years.
But the state celebration really started months before, when the Templars sort of surprised themselves and beat defending champion North Summit in a regular season game - and then edged them in the quarterfinals on Thursday. The regular season win was early proof, as coach Mark Hugentobler said, that "we're pretty good."
The Templars had to be if they wanted to beat streaky Parowan. They did so with three players scoring in double figures, as Tylan Jackson had 14 points and Griffin Aste and Russ Hugentobler added 12 apiece. Manti jump-started the game with an 8-0 run that concluded with an alley-oop dunk from Nick Brown, sending the Manti fans into a good mood. Some teams wouldn't recover from that.
Instead, the Rams went on a 7-0 run.
However, Manti quickly recovered from that rush and finished the first quarter with a 15-7 lead. It also helped the Templars that two of Parowan's best players - Jared Wheeler and Scott Hunter, who had a game-winning layup the night before - had three fouls before the end of the first half.
"I felt like our biggest key was composure," said Hugentobler. "We didn't get rattled. [Parowan] didn't get rattled . . . They just kept coming at you, coming at you. You got to give them a lot of credit. I really felt like our boys handled it. We had a lot of pressure on us, and we just stayed calm, we executed, we got the things we needed."
Hugentobler also added that his Templars were "a team of destiny."
In other words, he knew Manti wouldn't get bothered with the runs Parowan produced. The Rams made one in the third quarter with about two minutes left, when Hunter made a bucket to the tie the score at 34-34. But Manti managed to finish the third with a 40-35 lead.
In the fourth quarter, it was a little of the same with Parowan aiming to make a run that wouldn't stop. The Rams came within six points after Wheeler made a bucket with about three minutes left to put the Manti advantage at 48-42. But Hunter then fouled out with about two minutes left in the game, and the Rams failed to make clutch shots when they had them.
"It was up-and-down. It was amazing, it was crazy," Jackson said. "Coach told us to keep going and never stop. And that's what we did. We didn't stop."