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Provo • Jordan Sagers approached the free-throw line in the waning moments of the fourth quarter, more so a formality than anything with the game already determined. The junior wound up, confidently eyed the front end of the rim and flicked goodbye in one pendulum motion.

No good.

As if smelling manure, Sagers winced in disbelief and quickly positioned his feet at the stripe for his second opportunity. This time he twined the nylon for his 19th and final point of the evening. Sagers sniped the first 18 points from beyond the arc, showcased one of the purest forms found anywhere in the state during No. 1-ranked Timpview's 76-69 win against third-ranked Corner Canyon on Friday.

"I needed to step out to the 3-point line," Sagers quipped when jabbed about the missed free throw in post-game interviews. Sagers' six 3-pointers occurred immediately after a poor shooting performance in the junior varsity game, where he said he shot "20 percent" from the field, but returned to the right mindset during warmups.

Timpview enjoyed a double-figure lead for the majority of the first half, sustaining the cushion from the free-throw line, particularly in the fourth quarter where it converted 22 of 26 attempts. Luke Wilson was 8-for-8 in the stretch, and Gavin Baxter finished 11 of 16 at the stripe. Timpview hit 29 of 38 attempts as a team overall, and made only one field goal in the fourth.

"Free throws win games," said Baxter, who finished with a game-high 21 points. "They can be the difference between a win and a loss."

Baxter, arguably the best interior presence in the 4A classification, needed to work for all 21 of those points, however. Corner Canyon's Trevor Miller, who knocked down the Chargers' first seven points in the first quarter, flustered the high-flying forward with his face-guarding technique in the opening minutes, correlating with Timpview's early deficit. Corner Canyon led 17-13 after the first eight minutes.

Timpview opened the second quarter on a 10-0 run initiated by Baxter's punishing dunk and fueled by two 3-pointers by Sagers on the left wing. From there, the Thunderbirds used a steady dose of AJ Bollinger, a 6-foot-3 center who employed an effective combination of head jabs and hesitation moves for 12 points.

"What happens when you play a good team, when you come out — you have to be able to withstand. Their guys came out of the chute and really punched us in the nose," said Timpview coach Kevin Santiago. "They were hustling; they were getting every loose ball, and I kept telling our guys, 'We're fine. We've been here before. Be patient.' We systematically got going. That second quarter, we got a number of stops, and that gave us enough of a cushion where we can just maintain."

Corner Canyon learned firsthand how problematic Timpview's pieces can be. Defenses are forced to choose between collapsing into the paint to defend Baxter or expanding to defend shooters on the perimeter.

"We know if we can get the ball inside, they're going to have to pack it in, and now you're playing roulette because we're going to shoot 40 percent from out there," Santiago said. "You got to choose your poison."

Corner Canyon whittled the margin to six on Brayden Johnson's 3-pointer with 2:38 left, but Johnson was whistled for an intentional foul on the ensuing trip down the floor, allowing Timpview to knock down four freebies to extend the advantage back to double figures. The Chargers crawled back to within five, largely from the contributions of Johnson (20 points) and Braxton Coon (19 points), but never got closer.

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