This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Draper • It's a good thing for top-ranked Juan Diego that games not always are decided by how a team starts or finishes.
The Soaring Eagle survived a horrible start and a bad fourth quarter to hold off Pine View 47-42 in the first round of the Class 3A boys' basketball tournament Friday night.
Juan Diego fell behind 10-0 to start the game and managed just seven points in the fourth period when the Soaring Eagle went 1 for 10 from the free-throw line, including the front end of four bonus situations.
"When you really commit to playing defense and rebounding, even on nights when you start slow, you can make up for that," Juan Diego coach Drew Trost said. "We always have a goal of holding teams under 52 points. We did that, and whenever we do that, we are in really good shape."
The key player in the Soaring Eagle's come-from-behind win was senior forward Brennan Fabry, who battled Pine View star Trey Farrer to a virtual tie.
Fabry led all scorers with 14 points and had close to that many rebounds. Seven of those came in the third period and many were off offensive rebounds.
"Our coach all week put an emphasis on rebounding," said Fabry, who was playing in his final home game. "He said the deciding factor was going to be rebounds, so I knew I had to go crash and get a lot of rebounds."
And how did Juan Diego survive its awful start?
"We knew we had to keep focus," Fabry said. "We knew they had a lot of good shooters. They just made some good shots early in the game. We stayed with our game plan."
Things started to go poorly for Pine View when Farrer, who finished with 13 points, picked up two first-quarter fouls with the Panthers ahead 13-2.
Juan Diego rallied when he went out behind a hustling, ball-hawking defense and some good 3-point shooting by Matt Kitzman, who finished with 13 points.
Juan Diego held a 40-29 lead late in the third quarter, but it struggled mightily down the stretch as Pine View rallied to within four points with 2:14 to play.
But despite the late free throw misses, Juan Diego grabbed a couple of big offensive rebounds and earned the right to keep playing.
Twitter @tribtomwharton —
Juan Diego 47, Pine View 42
R Juan Diego survives a miserable state and awful finish to stave off Pine View.
• Brennan Fabry's scoring and rebounding save the day for the top-ranked Soaring Eagle.
• Trey Farrer scores 13 points in his final game for the Panthers.
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Class 3A playoffs
• Stansbury 44, North Sanpete 43
• Desert Hills 49, Bear River 41
• Ridgeline 72, Hurricane 59
• Carbon 54, Tooele 46
• Dixie 55, Logan 53
• Canyon View 71, Union 47
• Richfield 53, Grantsville 41
• Juan Diego 47, Pine View 42
Quarterfinals
at Utah State University
Thursday
9:30 a.m. • Stansbury vs. Desert Hills
11:10 a.m. • Ridgeline vs. Carbon
12:50 p.m. • Dixie vs. Canyon View
2:30 p.m. • Richfield vs. Juan Diego