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Syracuse • Letting the Syracuse Titans get up off the mat, after controlling the scoreboard for the entire game, just didn't seem like the right thing to do for the West Jordan basketball team Thursday night.

So the Jaguars didn't, although a constant 10-15 point margin did dwindle to three before West Jordan finally took a 68-55 road victory over Syracuse.

"It was a long bus ride, but it was worth it," said Jags' guard Collin Larson, who finished with a game-high 24 points for West Jordan (4-3).

Behind by 13, Syracuse (4-4) closed to within three after scoring the last five points of the third quarter and then registering a 7-2 run to start the fourth. In that stretch, the Titans got eight points from Dylan Brower.

But Bryan Banks, who had a dozen points for the Jaguars, broke the string with a basket with 5:30 left in the game.

That was followed by Larson zipping into the paint for a layup and a 56-49 advantage.

Banks, after a Titans' free throw, popped a long two and then followed a teammate's miss with another bucket. With 2:14 remaining, West Jordan's Davis Misrasi scored for a 61-50 lead.

"It was a physical game and both teams battled pretty well. I think it bothered all of us, but I think we battled through it," Larson said. "We kept making the plays down the stretch to pull away."

"Collin played really well tonight. He's a kid we need and we're going to go to war with," West Jordan coach Scott Briggs said.

The Jags led by nine at the end of the first quarter and were up by 13 midway through the second period when Ashanti Cage threw down a dunk. But it was early three-pointers by Larson, Connor Manglinong and Banks that propelled West Jordan to the first-half cushion.

"We shot well. You'd like to point to all the basketball fundamentals and things, but if the ball is going through the net it seems like the game comes a little bit easier," Briggs said.

Briggs' coaching counterpart ultimately came to the same conclusion.

"I believe our lack of intensity at the beginning of the game was a big part of it," Syracuse coach Troy Anderson said. "But you've got to give a lot of credit to West Jordan. That is a very finely coached team. He does an absolutely good job with them.

"And they had open looks — and shot the ball very well," Anderson added. —

West Jordan 68, Syracuse 55

R Collin Larson scores a game-high 24 points for West Jordan while teammate Bryan Banks adds a dozen.

• The Jaguars build a 15-point lead in the second quarter, but Syracuse gets within three in the fourth.

• Titans senior Dylan Brower has 22 points to pace the home team and Drew Carlson adds 11.