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Holladay • A reasonable albeit modest goal for the visiting Kearns Cougars on Tuesday, in light of a 16-point home loss to Olympus earlier in the season, might have been to at least improve the margin — and maybe even get a win if it all worked out.
It did not.
Both of those goals went by the wayside early as Olympus stayed unbeaten in Region 6 as the Titans blew out Kearns 87-56.
Olympus (16-2, 7-0) opened a double-digit lead in the first quarter, pushed it past 20 in the second and cruised to the win behind Matt Lindsey's 27 points.
"We're never really want to be, we always want to get better. If we miss one shot, we are like, 'We've got to get that next time,'" Lindsey said. "No matter what we do, there's always something we can improve upon."
Lindsey, whose older brother Jake plays for second-ranked Baylor collegiately, got the Titans on the fast track by breaking into the lane for the game's first two buckets.
A minute and 15 seconds in, Olympus' Jeremy Dowdell beat the Kearns (11-7, 4-3) defense back for a fast-break bucket in a play that would be repeated many times.
"They [the Cougars] started a little smaller this time and Matt got in there for a couple of easy baskets to get us going," Titans coach Matt Barnes said of his team scoring the first eight points of the game. "We got 'em at their place earlier, so we figured they'd be energetic and ready to go.
"But we got to them early and got them down and that was to our advantage," Barnes added. "We got out on the break, got some easy baskets on run-out layups."
Lindsey's production was supplemented by point guard Rylan Jones' 18 points while Harrison Creer tallied 17. Post player Travis Wagstaff scored 13 points while hauling down nine rebounds.
Kearns was led by Hershey Wada's 19 points and the Cougars also had nine from guard Mikey Hernandez. A trey by Hernandez made the score 16-7, but Kearns quickly lost touch when Creer answered with a 3-pointer and the Titans scored a 7-2 run to finish the opening quarter.
The Cougars came into the game second in the region race and two games back of Olympus.
"It was big because, if we lose this one, everybody's back in the race," Barnes said. "But if we win, we put everybody further behind us with the second half of region to go.
"But we're still not where we want to be," the Titans' coach added. "It's cliché, I know, but we're just getting better every day and coming to work." —
Olympus 87, Kearns 56
R Olympus' Matt Lindsey scores 27 points while teammates Rylan Jones (18 points), Harrison Creer (17) and Travis Wagstaff (13) also get into double-digits.
• Hershey Wada scores 19 points to lead Kearns, which falls to three games behind Olympus in Region 6.