Layton's huge third quarter buries Syracuse

Layton • Thoughts of Jan. 12 were inevitable for the Layton Lancers when halftime arrived Tuesday night.

Memories of Syracuse’s last-second shot to win that one combined with the impact of long banked 3-pointers in this one didn’t exactly leave a good taste in the mouths of the home team.

But it wasn’t anything that a practically perfect third quarter couldn’t cure.

The Lancers entered the game in a three-way tie atop Region 1 with Syracuse and Fremont, but they disentangled that logjam just a little bit by blowing by the Titans 76-47.

Layton (12-6, 6-3) outscored the visiting Titans 21-3 in the third quarter and never looked back from a 28-28 tie at halftime. Most of those points came in the last half of the period as the two teams combined for only three points until Truman Brown hit a 3-pointer at the 4:06 mark.

Then the Lancers scored the next 15 points aided by Syracuse (10-10, 5-4) committing turnover after turnover. Combined with Brown’s trey to start it all, Layton registered an 18-0 run and an overall 24-2 streak that carried over to the fourth quarter.

“It feels amazing. We got our stuff together and got things done like we were supposed to do,” Layton 6-foot-10 center Collin Jeppson said about the third period.

Jeppson finished with 23 points, 16 rebounds, three blocks and a steal.

Layton led by 13 at the beginning of the fourth quarter before the Titans stormed back for a 52-50 victory in that January game. But there would be no comeback this time. The Lancers moved out to a 32-point margin at one point in the final stanza.

“We were definitely pretty frustrated, especially the way — when we played them last — the game ended,” Jeppson said. “We still had a chip on our shoulder from that game, and with all their bank shots, it was getting kind of frustrating.”

Brock Gilbert, who hit the winning shot at the buzzer in Syracuse’s earlier victory, was held to nine points this time around. Layton coach Kelby Miller, after viewing video of the earlier contest, felt that too much of a defensive burden was put on Conner Hill. The responsibilities were divvied up this time around.

But Gilbert did sink one 3-pointer and teammate Austin Kirkman banked in a trey midway through the second quarter. Syracuse guard Rudy Casias got off a long 3-point attempt that also banked through to tie the game just before the half.

“When a team banks in three 3-pointers in the first half, you feel like, ‘What else can we do?’” Miller said. “But obviously you know those aren’t going to keep falling.”

Brown finished with 20 points, while Chase Patter added 15 for the Lancers. Layton had six different players record steals, led by Hill’s four.

“We had 18 turnovers in the game. We had guys trying to do things they shouldn’t be doing,” Syracuse coach Troy Anderson said. “And that led to some of those turnovers.

“When we’re sound fundamentally and our players do what’s expected of them, then you have what you saw [until] midway through the third quarter. It’s just a lot of mistakes we made.”