The atmosphere was electric at Highland High School on Friday night as the Rams hosted Cyprus High School in a playoff thriller. Students and fans showed up early from both schools as the excitement arose for the playoff match-up.
The Rams received a first-round bye in the playoffs thanks to their 20-3 regular season record, so they came rested up, and well prepared.
“We had great practices leading up to the game and Coach Jones had a full game plan laid out for us,” Junior Soren Ries said. “We had been watching their film and going over their plays since Monday, so we felt good.”
The game started with lots of defense in the first quarter. Highland held the Pirates to only 9 points but only scored 12 themselves. The refs were very aggressive on traveling calls for both sides, and each team forced many turnovers.
The second quarter remained back and forth, but the Rams seemed to always hold a slight lead. The Pirates hit a couple big threes in the second quarter that kept them within 3 points going into the half.
“Cyprus was a tough team,” said Junior Bodie Dodge. “We had trouble making a big push to put them away, and they hit some shots to stay in the game.”
The excitement grew going into the second half, and the fans were on their feet cheering loud when the teams came out for the third quarter. The Rams offense caught fire in the third quarter, putting up 19 points, sending the Black Hole into a frenzy.
“I thought we did a good job staying on course throughout that whole game,” Ries said. “No matter what they did on their end, we had an answer for it, especially in the third.”
Highland’s lead grew to 6 points going into the fourth quarter, but Cyprus wasn’t done yet. Their star player, Beckham Bayles had several big shots (and flops) in the fourth that kept the Pirates around. He made four threes in the game and finished with 27 points.
Cyprus got within one possession of the Rams with a few minutes to go in the game. Then senior guard, Jack Anderton hit the most important of his six three pointers that started a run for Highland where they extended their lead to 8 with just minutes to go.
“When we are playing for each other like we did in the end of that game we are hard to stop,” said Dodge. “We have a lot of skill and versatility throughout our team we just need to play our roles.”
The Rams ended up finishing the game with a 10-point lead, with very strong defense down the stretch in the fourth. The final score was 62-52 for Highland, which extends a 5-game win streak for the Rams. Cyprus’s four game road streak was snapped, as the Pirates finished the season 15-10.
“We played solid throughout the game,” said Ries. “We have to just continue to play hard as a team and I think we could go all the way.”
Highland is moving on to the quarterfinals of the state playoffs, where they will take on Bountiful at the Huntsman Center on Tuesday morning. Bountiful is the 5 seed and they are coming off of a 19-point win over Woods Cross. The Redhawks will be a tough opponent, but Highland is going into the game prepared.
“It’s an awesome opportunity to be able to go play at the U,” said Ries. “This time of year, it doesn’t get much better than playing high level games at that arena.”
