A solid win on the road up North against the Box Elder Bees on Tuesday was exactly what Highland needed going into their biggest region matchup of the year against Woods Cross. Holding the leading scorer across the state and a supporting cast that has brought them to a 15-2 record (6-0 in region), it was clear from the opening tip that this team was special.

The Rams didn’t do themselves any favors from the gate, letting Trevin Knell get hot, red hot. The senior came out firing and finished with 11, of his total 34 points, in the first quarter alone, meanwhile leading his team to a 18-7 lead at the end of the first. Several small runs from the Rams threatened the Wildcats, especially late in the fourth quarter, but inability to produce points at a constant rate lead to an eventual loss as the clock ran out. The Rams fell 68-60, which might not seem so bad seeing that the Wildcats have beat every other region opponent by at least 20 points.

Highland found their success when the state scoring leader Knell was forced to the bench to start the second quarter, when they could finally take a breath on the defensive side. The defense, probably already worn from a similar performance of Box Elder’s own version of Knell, Max Watson, who added 31 points against the Rams, could not keep up with the versatility of the Wildcats.

“Woods Cross is one of the best teams we have seen this year,” sophomore guard Liki Makaui said. “Knell is a knockdown shooter wherever he is, but he has a lot of help.”

Makaui, even with his little stature, brought a big attitude which showed with the multiple rebounds he pulled down, which lead to easy transition points. Junior Treyton Keyes found his shot late in the second and brought the Rams to back within five, but they released the pressure again as they gave back a few trailing 33-26 into halftime.

With no sway in momentum either way during the third, the Rams entered the final quarter still down seven. Then the perimeter shooting, which had been dominated by Woods Cross, brought Highland back to striking distance. A deep three from junior Oscar Maxfield electrified the bench as the Rams took their first lead of the game, which was almost immediately answered by a jumper from Knell. But the captain didn’t want to miss out on the fun, junior Elijah Shelton then knocked down another three-pointer to give the Rams a two-point lead. While the offense started to blossom, the defense still struggled to find an answer for Knell, and he took advantage. With the perimeter defense tightened up, Knell took to the lane and found himself at the free-throw line three different times in the last four minutes, where he shut the Rams out of contention.

“We let Knell get going, and we were never able to recover.” Head Coach Jim Boyce said. “This is the number three team in the state, so there is a very small margin for error, and we made just a few too many mistakes defensively hold on. But I am very proud of how our guys played and how they never gave up.”

The Rams fall to .500 in region play with this tough loss, along with falling into a four-way tie for second place. Highland will look to regroup and reenergize as they travel to Ogden in hopes to break the tie next Tuesday the 31^st.