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Cedar City • The Canyon View Falcons haven't seen the big stage in the 3A state basketball playoffs for a long, long time. Facing the defending champions with a trip to the semifinals on the line, sophomore Brantzen Blackner and his Falcon teammates responded and came away with a win to remember.

Blackner scored 25 points and Canyon View led the entire fourth quarter on the way to knocking off the Pine View Panthers 60-56 in a quarterfinal game at the Centrum on the Southern Utah University campus. The Falcons will play Juan Diego in the semifinals at 9:10 p.m. on Friday.

Playing in its first state tournament since 2009, the Falcons (18-7) fought through 11 lead changes with the Panthers and didn't wilt when the pressure was on over the final eight minutes.

"One thing we know about these kids is they love sharing the ball and they love playing together," Canyon View head coach Robbie Potter said. "We challenged them to get back to that. They had gotten away from sharing the ball the last couple of games."

CV led 46-44 as the fourth quarter began, but Pine View answered and tied the score at 48-48 with 4 minutes, 11 seconds left after baskets from Brandon Yates and Cody Ruesch. The Falcons countered with a 6-0 run capped by a layup from Xavier Stoker with 1:38 remaining.

The Panthers pushed the score to 56-53 when Kade Moore (12 points) drained his third 3-pointer of the game with 52.5 seconds left.

Spencer Jensen missed the front end of a one-and-one at the free-throw line, but the sophomore came through by blocking a Cody Ruesch shot. Blackner followed up with a rebound of a Dylan Hendrickson missed shot, then hit two free throws with 23.3 seconds to play to stretch the lead to five at 58-53.

"We had a lot of confidence after a big third quarter," Blackner said. "At halftime, we felt we had the momentum going our way. We just had to keep playing our game."

Blackner sealed the Falcons' win with a steal and two free throws with eight seconds remaining and stretched the lead to seven, largest of the game for either team.

"It's huge, an amazing feeling," Blackner said of the Falcons' win. "You've got to cherish every moment. Treat every game like it's the same game."

After making 22 of 35 from the free-throw line in the play-in victory over Morgan on Saturday, Canyon View hit 14 of 20 against Pine View, including 6 of 7 in the final minute.

The Panthers led through most of the first half, but Blackner hit one of his three 3-pointers to put the Falcons up for the first time to bring the score to 25-24 with 2:43 remaining in the second quarter. Joey Lambeth drained a jumper from the foul line at the horn to give CV a 32-31 lead heading to the break. —

Thursday's results

Dixie 68, Logan 57 • Tyler Bennett led three players in double figures with 17 points — 12 of which were in the second quarter — and the Flyers pulled away in the second half to advance to the semifinals, where they'll play Bear River.

Dixie offset a 26-point effort from Grizzlies freshman Rylan Jones.

Bear River 66, Snow Canyon 49 • The Bears roared out to a 32-11 halftime lead and coasted to the win to knock the Warriors down to the consolation bracket.

Juan Diego 62, Desert HIlls 52 • Maliik Fagan-Foster scored 20 points and Avery Ames added 19 as the Soaring Eagle broke open a tight game at halftime and beat the Thunder.

Logan Hokanson led three players in double figures for Desert Hills with 15 points.