(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Kearns' Emmanuel Andrew (04) battles Weber's Braedon Iverson (05). Weber defeated Kearns 60-52 in the 6A High School Boys' Basketball Tournament opening game at Weber State University’s Dee Events Center in Ogden, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018.
Ogden • Weber caught fire in the second half after a sluggish opening two quarters to rally to a 60-52 upset of Region 2 champion Kearns.
The Warriors, who trailed 26-18 at halftime on 6-of-24 shooting, turned around things in the second half behind 19-of-29 shooting in Tuesday’s Class 6A boys’ basketball state tournament opener.
“No matter, what we win with grit,” Weber coach Ryan Jones said. “And that’s been our motto — play with purpose and win with grit.”
Kearns got an alley-hoop dunk from Emmnauel Andrew to open the scoring, which was an attempt to set the tone for the evening.
The Warriors weren’t rattled.
Weber got a 3-pointer from Austin Bartholomew and a basket from Brandon Capener to close Kearns’ lead to 10-7 after the opening period.
The Cougars appeared ready to pull away from Weber, the No. 4 seed from Region 1, as they built a 23-14 lead midway through the second period.
But Weber junior Hudson Schenck closed out the half with four points to trim Kearns’ lead to 23-18.
Schenck’s four points were the beginning of what turned out to be a 12-0 run by Weber. The run allowed the Warriors to open a 26-23 lead.
“I didn’t feel like we needed to make any adjustments at halftime,” Jones said. “I felt like we were getting a lot of really good looks. We just needed to calm the guys down. I told them to have fun.”
Schenck extended Weber’s lead to six with a 3-pointer late in the third. The Weber junior basically iced the game in the fourth period with a three-point play to give the Warriors a 48-40 lead with three minutes to play.
Schenck finished with 19 points and four rebounds for Weber.
“He has done that the second half of region play and again today,” Jones said about Schenck. “That’s just the kind of guy he is. He leads the right way through his play.”
Tuesday’s win was only Weber’s third win at the state tournament in more than 30 seasons, according to Jones.
“This a big venue,” the Weber coach said. “Weber High just doesn’t have a great history in the playoffs. So the guys want to come up and show well. They just had to calm themselves down, and they did a great job of doing that.”
The win also adds to the strong showing by Region 1, which finished the opening round 4-0.
“I’m stoked because Region 1 is doing very well right now,” Schenck said.
Matthew Wickizer finished with 17 points and five rebounds, while Emmnauel had 10 points and 17 rebounds for Kearns.