Another Class 4A championship game ended with the familiar sight of Timpview celebrating yet another title this past Saturday.

Only this time the celebration was indoors, on the hardwood at the Dee Events Center, and not on the turf of Rice-Eccles Stadium.

With its 52-43 defeat of Mountain Crest, the Timpview basketball team returned home to Utah County with their first basketball championship since 2003, matching their football brethren who also dispatched Mountain Crest in the 4A title football game last November.

It was never a cinch the season would end with the Thunderbirds holding the state trophy. Timpview began the season with the knowledge that last year's leading scorer, Bronson Kafusi would miss the basketball season due to a knee injury suffered in a football game.

"It's never a good thing to lose your leading scorer before the season even starts," said Timpview head coach Perry Wildeboar. "Luckily, we had a deeper team this year that could overcome [Kafusi's] loss. We had the right mix of players step up and find their games for us."

The depth of this year's edition of the T-Birds was its saving grace. The team's leading scorer for the year was Eli Robison, who averaged 15.6 on the season and increased his average to 16.6 throughout the 4A tournament.

And right on cue, Robison scored a game high 16 points in the title game against Mountain Crest.

"This team has played together for a while man," Robison said. "A lot of us have been playing together since like the fifth grade and I think that has helped us out a lot this year."

Ky Raymond averaged 9.6 points per game and Josh Warner posted 7.8 per contest.

Christian Covey, the hero of the semifinal game against Highland thanks to his soon to be legendary three-point shot at the buzzer, averaged 9.3 points and tied for the team lead in three-pointers with his cousin Ryan Sagers at 33.

Sagers had the winning assist on Covey's buzzer beater.

"Me and Ryan have been playing together since I can remember," said Covey. "On the last shot [against Highland] I knew he would find me in all the traffic because we just have that connection out there."

Covey's shot means fans will remember this team for years to come. But with this group of T-Birds, the championship was won because of teamwork and faith that their teammates will make a play when it matters the most.

Prior to Covey's game winner, was a Timpview defensive stand, followed by a defensive rebound with six seconds left by Robison, who found Sagers on an outlet pass to the middle of the floor.

Covey was on a dead sprint up the left sideline, and got the pass from Sagers with less than 2 seconds left. His shot rose over Highland's scrambling defense and found nothing but the bottom of the net as time expired.

Instead of taking the credit, Covey made sure to pick up his teammates, something Timpview has done all season long.

"The shot felt pretty good," Covey said. "But you can't just look at the shot. Look at what led up to it. The rebound by Robison. The pass from Sagers. All of that went into it."

It all added up to a state title.