Orem » With a 21-1 record, top-ranked Wasatch was the obvious favorite at the start of the Class 3A boys basketball tournament.

But Wasatch struggled at times before finally taking a 63-54 victory over Morgan on Thursday at the Utah Valley University Events Center. Morgan held a 32-29 lead late in the third quarter before Wasps star Trevor Bamgartner led a 10-0 run that gave his team the lead for good.

"If we don't do well offensively, you can always count on our defense to keep us in the game," said Wasatch coach Norman Hayter. "We weren't here last year. Some of our guys were figuring it out."

One guy who didn't seem to have much trouble was Bamgartner, whose 29-point games was the day's best. He seemed to come up with the big shot every time Wasatch needed one.

Judge 50, Deseret Hills 46 (OT) » In 44 years as head Judge coach, Jim Yerkovich always has preached that playing as a team is more important than individual accomplishments. That philosophy never was more evident than in overtime, when five Bulldogs scored.

William Whitt, Zach Myaer and Daniel Shiramizu all hit double figures for Judge, which allowed Desert Hills to tie the game but never take the lead, a pattern Yerkovich said has been typical for his team this season.

"It's been a real pleasure to coach these kids," said Yerkovich. "It's one of the most inexperienced teams I've had."

Tanner Atkin played a terrific game for Desert Hills, scoring 18 points and pulling down some important rebounds.

Hurricane 60, Juan Diego 49 » The Tigers survived a snowy ride from Washington County on Wednesday night and a 9:30 a.m. starting time to dominate Juan Diego in the opener as Jaden Seely scored 16 points. Hurricane held Juan Diego to just nine points in the first half and was never seriously threatened.

"You never know with our team," said Hurricane coach Gordon Dotson. "We are Jekyll and Hyde. We played well and are capable of doing that. Sometimes we play down to our competition."

Emery 40, Cedar City 33 » It took the Region 9 champion Spartans almost 31/2 quarters to settle down against the Redmen, who were the only team with a losing record in the quarterfinals. Led by Colton Barnett's 14 points and Nevin Jensen's 13, the Spartans finally took the lead with 3:38 to play and then scored five straight more points to win a ragged nailbiter.

"We didn't shoot the ball," said veteran Emery coach Todd Jeffs. "We were real sloppy, Maybe we had first-game jitters."

wharton@sltrib.com