This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Layton • Coach Kelby Miller placed both palms atop his head as his elbows pointed outward. In the hall, he shook his head, trying to calculate exactly what occurred moments prior.
"We were up two?" he asked his assistant coaches, who were also trying to wrap their brains around the final minutes of the Lancers' 40-38 win against Davis on Tuesday.
The majority of the game was probably best left forgotten.
The Lancers finished 15 of 52 — 28 percent — from the field, while Davis slumped to a paltry 24 percent on 12 of 49 attempts. There were 22 combined turnovers. Layton shot 1 of 10 from beyond the arc. Davis hit 4 of 22 triples. The game wasn't exactly what James Naismith envisioned when he constructed the rules of basketball.
But after losing a one-point decision against Viewmont last week, Layton needed to escape with a win — pretty or not.
"That's just an old-fashioned, ugly, grind-it-out type of game," Miller said. "It's nice to see us come out on the winning end of that."
The Davis-Layton series last season provided two of the best games of the year, highlighted by Jesse Wade and Jarriesse Blackmon — both of whom were eventually named to the All-Tribune team, with Wade designated as the state MVP for the Darts — erupting for enormous performances on their home floors. The Darts eventually bowed out in the Class 5A semifinals, while the Lancers captured their first title since 1988.
This season has been another story entirely. Both programs have struggled to replicate the same success without the two stars suited up, yet still, operating within the notoriously weak Region 2 — hope of higher postseason seedings was and is still very much alive — especially for the Lancers, who are now 5-8 overall and 2-1 in league play but received a boost when Julian Blackmon returned after missing the first month of play with a broken wrist. Tuesday was his third game.
"It's just a different vibe with him," Miller said. "I truly believe he is one of the best guards in the state — hands down. He's almost impossible to stay in front of."
Blackmon, who was a pivotal component to the postseason run last year alongside his brother, was still out of sync offensively — shooting 4 of 16 from the field and finishing with 10 points — but his influence on both ends: orchestrating the offense, applying ball pressure, pushing the tempo, and, despite his shorter stature — rebounding (he finished with eight boards), was felt immensely.
The first half on Tuesday was marred by inability to generate offense, including both teams sustaining long, ugly droughts — Davis went nearly five minutes without a field goal to open the game and Layton failed to score for nearly six minutes at the beginning of the second frame. Davis led 10-9 after the first, and 17-15 at halftime.
"Nerves and we haven't really got a feel for each other yet, just because I had come back from an injury," Blackmon said of the poor shooting. "We're kind of tense at the beginning, but we always end up doing pretty good at the end."
Ignited after a non-call underneath the rim to start the second half, Jakoby Kemp sparked the Layton offense, including contributing to a game-defining run that featured him swatting a Davis' layup off the glass and converting a three-point play on the other end shortly thereafter. Kemp led all scorers with 15 points and six rebounds.
But, trailing by 10 with 5:22 remaining in regulation, Davis mounted a comeback behind Ben Rigby, Jarett Gardner and Landon Swartz, who combined to score 31 of the 38 points for Davis — which eventually knotted the score at 38 apiece and even had several opportunities with less than a minute remaining to capture the lead, but never could convert.
"We got a little too into the mind games," Blackmon said. "We were getting a little cocky in the end. They started coming back because we started to lose our focus."
With 20 seconds remaining, Layton worked the rock around the world before finding Chandler Obrey in the post. The unsung senior muscled up the winning bucket with 2.4 seconds left.
In the final five minutes of the fourth quarter, Layton found itself fighting to stay afloat, but the outcome made the scramble worth it.
"It was exciting. That's one of those moments you live for in high school," Obrey said. "It's one of those moments I'll never forget."
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