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Logan • A senior-heavy lineup and an active big man in the middle are ingredients any basketball team would love to boast. Dixie has both, and its size and experience were crucial in its quarterfinal win Thursday afternoon.

The Region 9 champion Flyers held off a gritty Canyon View squad, 49-43, at Utah State's Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. Senior guard Kaden Elzy led the Flyers with 10 points and three assists, and Flyers 6-foot-7 senior center Richard Guymon collected nine points, seven rebounds, six blocked shots and two steals.

Canyon View's high scoring 6-4 junior wing player Brantzen Blackner scored a game-high 17 points on 5-for-9 shooting (2 for 2 on 3-pointers) and dished out four assists in the loss.

The Flyers (23-2) utilized most of their roster to escape with the victory over Canyon View (14-11).

"They were hungry," Dixie coach Ryan Cuff said. "They're a No. 1 team in their region for a reason. We knew that they were going to come out fighting, and they've improved. They shoot the ball — shoot the lights out. We were ready to make stops on the 3-point line, and they had seven of them, five in the first half."

Mistakes plagued both sides early as the teams combined for 15 turnovers in 16 minutes. While the fast-paced play seemed to favor Dixie, it often came up empty-handed on transition opportunities in the opening frame. Dixie committed eight first-half turnovers.

"We just kept trading baskets and turning it over back and forth," Guymon said. "Just playing on a college-sized floor up north after traveling, we just had to calm down and get in the floor, get used to the court. Hopefully, we'll be better [Friday]."

Canyon View's Abe Huxford's tied the score at 23-23 with a layup late in the first half, but Dixie scored the final six points of the half with the aid of three steals — two by senior guard Ty Curtis.

Guymon, one of eight seniors on the Flyers' roster, blocked five shots in the second half and drew a charge on a Blackner drive in a five-point game in the fourth quarter. He followed that with a layup on the ensuing possession that gave the Flyers a 43-36 edge.

The Flyers played all but the final minute of the game without their top perimeter defender, senior guard Kannen Dye, who has been struggling with a back injury and spent most of the game with a heating pad on, according to Cuff.

However, Cuff inserted Dye with the Flyers leading 45-40 with 24.3 seconds remaining. Dye made a steal on his first defensive possession on the floor. Canyon View's Joey Lambeth made a 3-pointer from the corner in the final seconds, but Curtis made three free throws down the stretch.

lworthy@sltrib.com

Twitter: @LWorthySports

Dixie 48, Canyon View 43

• Dixie wins despite missing senior guard Kannen Dye for almost the entire game.

• Dixie beat Canyon View for the second time this season, having won 69-53 in December.