St. George • Round 3 came Saturday in the first round of the Class 2A boys’ basketball state tournament at Desert Hills High School.
And this meeting between Rockwell and Altamont, like the two previous games, came down to the wire in another classic game between the Marshalls and Longhorns.
Altamont, led by seniors Riley Braman and Zachary Hansen, who had a game-high 19 points apiece, rallied late in the fourth quarter to take down Rockwell 55-53.
Kiephlen Rife and Brenton Stearns both had 15 points in the loss.
“What a game,” Braman said. “We know each other pretty well, and we knew it was going to be another close game. I’m just glad we were able to pull it out.”
Altamont coach Eric Watson knew it was going to be a battle based on the two previous meetings.
“I’m proud of our guys for not backing down and doing what they needed to do to close the game out,” he said.
Rockwell scored eight consecutive points midway through the third quarter to take its first lead of the game. The run was fueled by Rife, who scored all eight points with two 3-pointers as well as a layup.
The rest of the game featured six ties and seven lead changes as both teams took turns answering runs with a run of its own.
After Rockwell took a 38-35 lead into the fourth quarter and looked like it was on its way to breaking open the game thanks to the pressure it was creating with its full-court defense, Braman stepped up with big-time baskets to swing the momentum back over to the Longhorns.
“He’s being doing a great job for us all season, and that wasn’t anything new for us,” Watson said. “Riley gets it done on both ends of the floor, and every time we need a big basket we look to him because we know he’s going to score.”
Rockwell had a chance to win the game as time expired after Altamont made missed several free-throw attempts down the stretch, but the Marshalls couldn’t pull it out.
“We spent a lot of time this week on free throws, and were going to be spending a lot more time on that again,” Watson said after the Longhorns finished the day making just 11 of 21 from the foul line.