After 17 days off due to scheduling and weather postponements, the Braves looked mighty rusty as they trailed the Sugar-Salem Diggers 20-15 at the half. The second half was all Star Valley as they steadily pulled away for a convincing 55-37 victory over their Idaho visitors.
“I think the cobwebs were there from that big break,” head coach Paul Kabonic said in the post-game referencing the first half. “We missed a bunch of easy ones. We kind of shoot in spurts so when one guy hits them, they all feel like they can. When we hit some open shots in the second half it opened up some lanes.”
The Diggers shot well from inside the arc, especially in the first half but they struggled to find the range from the three-point line as they shot just 3 of 15 on the evening. The Braves, after hitting just one of their first 12 shots, raised their overall shooting to over 40-percent. It was a mirror image of the 39-38 loss to the Diggers on the Idaho court.
“It was a similar game; a defensive battle,” Kabonic added. “The difference [between the two games] is [tonight] we made shots late and we didn’t turn it over. I told the kids that if they’ll play defense that it will keep us in the game and it did.”
Also keeping the Braves in the game early were some timely three-point shots. In the second half the long-range bombs expanded the lead as Star Valley made eight of them in the game from four different players. Hazen Erickson was 2 of 6 and perfect from the rest of the field as he finished with a game-high 17 points. Taylor Horsley hit a trio buckets from long-range and finished with 13. Chase Merrell was also in double-figures with 11. Mason Erickson led the team with a game-high six rebounds.
Up next is the beginning of 4A Southwest District play as Star Valley (4-6) hosts the Jackson Broncs (0-10). After missing players due to injury, playing a murderer’s row of Utah squads in tournament play and having two spans of double-digit days without games, Kabonic feels the Braves are in as good of shape as they have been all season.
“This game was perfect for us,” he stated. “We didn’t make a lot of excuses about the schedule. I just wanted to play well tonight. Now it’s a regular routine and if we play defense we will be hard to beat. We’re a tough team to score against. If the shots fall, then we are capable of doing what we did tonight. Defensively [Assistant Coach] Tennyson Draney has done a great job with our defense and that will keep us in it.”
Freshman games on Friday with Jackson begin at 3 p.m. with junior varsity games at 4:30. The varsity boys game with the Broncs is scheduled for 7:30 and will be streamed by SVI Media.
