By Kyle Goon

| The Salt Lake Tribune

It smelled as if the Hunter boys’ basketball team had another double-digit comeback brewing. The Wolverines were only two points behind Skyline in the final minute, and Herriman and Logan had already surrendered games in similar situations.

But neither of those two teams had DeSean Miller playing point guard.

Photos

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

	Join the Discussion
	Post a Comment

The cool-headed senior broke down Hunter’s press late and scored 10 of his 16 points in the final quarter to allow Skyline (4-0) to prevail in a heated 57-53 contest at home. The Wolverines (3-2) came to the brink of a victory with a strong performance from their bench, but ultimately, the Eagles showed better poise.

"I think they had us right where they wanted us," Skyline coach Derek Bunting said. "It’s easy for a team to let up or take a lead for granted. But we did win a close one."

It didn’t appear close at all at first, and Skyline seemed to have Hunter playing into their hands. The Eagles didn’t shoot particularly well from the floor in the first half, but their rebounding kept giving them second chances. The game started escaping the Wolverines in the second quarter, when some transition buckets allowed Skyline to assume a 32-19 halftime lead.

The lead got up to as many as 15 points, but Hunter started pushing in the second half. Coach Dave Filimoehala benched his entire starting lineup in favor of backups, and they responded accordingly, helping key an 11-3 run that brought the Wolverines back into striking distance.

"Shows how smart I am — I should have kept them in," Filimoehala said. "Our bench guys played hard tonight, but for whatever reason, our starters were out of sync.

Skyline’s Mike Staes almost single-handedly kept him team ahead in the third quarter, scoring 9 of the team’s 12 points. But Miller took over in the fourth, and no one on Hunter could account for his quickness and deft handling of the ball as he helped the Eagles break down the full-court press.

The Wolverines’ Dimitri Saliba helped lead another late push, finishing with 14 points, but Miller knocked down 7 of his 10 free throw attempts in the fourth to buoy Skyline’s lead.

kgoon@sltrib.com

Twitter: @kylegoon

• DeSean Miller leads Skyline with 16 points, including 10 in the final quarter, to assure victory.

• Dimitri Saliba scores 14 points in Hunter’s failed bid for its third double-digit comeback this season.

• Mike Staes adds 15 points for the Eagles, with 11 in the second half.