The Judge Memorial boys basketball team hasn't lost a region game since 2005.
In those three plus years, the Bulldogs have won high scoring games. They've won low scoring games. They've won close games, and they've won games by a ton of points.
If Tuesday's 40-39 victory over Wasatch proved anything, however, it's that Judge could win a physical game where every possession resembled something of a street fight.
The Bulldogs merely survived the Wasps in a game that started 90 minutes late and seemed to drag on at a snail-like pace. Judge won with star point guard Stallon Saldivar scoring a team-high 13 points, but not playing as well as he usually does.
The Bulldogs emerged victorious despite a number of missed free throws down the stretch, and they managed to survive multiple Wasatch possessions in which the Wasps had chances to take the lead with precious few ticks left on the clock.
"I thought this was a great win for us," Bulldogs coach Jim Yerkovich said. "I thought both teams played extremely hard and I thought this was an extremely physical game. Both teams played great defense."
As a result, Judge, with a two game lead on the rest of the league, has all but clinched the Region 10 title. The Bulldogs have won 40 consecutive league games and it looks as if they will enter the state tournament as a number one seed, thus making it a favorite to make another run at the Class 3A state title.
And they did it with defense. Zach Myaer was especially vicious in his on the ball defense, causing a turnover in the final 20 seconds when Wasatch was attempting to hold the ball for a potential game-winning shot.
Dee Crandall was another one who played great defensively, limiting the Wasps high-scoring guard Trevor Bamgartner to just a handful of touches in the fourth quarter and hounding the 6-foot-1 junior into bad shots.
"Zach in particular did a great job," Yerkovich said. "He made life miserable for the other guards. He's really made defense his specialty and it's really made our team defense special."
Judge wins it's 40th consecutive region game
Stallon Saldivar scores a game-high 13 points to lead the Bulldogs
Judge, with the win, improves to 7-0 in league play.
