SMITHFIELD—Inter-county rivals Sky View and Mtn. Crest met on the hardwood Wednesday night to face off for the second time this season. Their first meeting was three weeks ago, and the Mustangs won comfortably, 55-40. Wednesday night wasn’t as comfortable for Mtn. Crest, where they had a three-point lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter thanks to the hot hand of Bobcat Tanner Crockett.

But the Mustangs held on to win the game, 40-33, after the Bobcats made a push at the end of the third quarter to keep the game close.

“It’s a tough one to lose,” said Bobcat head coach Kevin Anderson. “It was an emotional game. I thought the kids played hard. It’s a tough one to swallow, but we’ve got to get over it.”

The Mustangs took a nine-point lead with five seconds left in the third quarter after Mtn. Crest’s Alex Kuresa, who led all scorers with 16, hit two free throws. But Sky View’s Crockett took the inbounds pass and dribbled just past the half court line before he released a prayer of a shot that found its way to the bottom of the net as the buzzer sounded to pull the Bobcats within six.

“We’ve had a lot of good practices, a lot of shooting,” said Crockett. “I don’t know, I think we just worked hard and [the shots] just came.”

Crockett then hit the first shot of the fourth quarter, also a three-pointer, to pull Sky View within three. But the Bobcats could only manage six points for the rest of the quarter while Mtn. Crest scored ten points in the last five and a half minutes to hold the Bobcats at bay and leave Smithfield with a seven-point victory.

“I’ll give Mtn. Crest some credit. They played pretty good defense tonight and we didn’t execute very well offensively,” said Anderson. “We got a few looks, but we couldn’t get them to go.”

Five Mustangs scored in the first quarter as Mtn. Crest jumped out to a 13-6 lead after eight minutes. Bobcats Garrett Hinton, Nick Eslkeson and Chris Bennion each had two point buckets in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Sky View stepped up their defense, holding Mtn. Crest to only two points in the quarter, a lone layup by Troy Pickett.

“Our defense, you know, was pretty good in that second quarter. We were able to get some steals and some easy baskets on some breakaways,” said Anderson. “They were up seven at the end of the first quarter and we were able to get back into it.”

Crockett, Derrick Nield and Jordan Nielsen combined for seven points in the second quarter as the Bobcats pulled within two at halftime.

“We had a few people come up big the second quarter, and that got us going,” said Crockett. “Unfortunately we couldn’t keep it [going]. We didn’t execute well.”

Anderson added: “We came out in the second half and just struggled offensively.”

Hinton, Brad Lenkersdorfer and Kyler Carlsen all scored buckets in the third quarter before Crockett hit his razzle-dazzle near-halfcourt shot to keep the score close.

The Mustang attack was too much for the Bobcats in the fourth period. Mtn. Crest’s Kuresa hit five free throws while Matt Stewart and Tyler Reese added scores to seal the deal for the Mustangs.

The key, says Anderson, is to move on.

“We’ve got to put this behind us,” he said. “We go to Bonneville, where they shoot the ball well, so we’ve got to focus on Bonneville right now.”

He added: “These kids are pretty good [at moving on]. When things don’t go our way, we just have to forget it and move on. We can’t dwell on it. We start preparing now for Bonneville and we still have eight basketball games left. We can’t focus on this. We have to get ready to go on the road and get ready for Bonneville.”

The Bobcats (10-3) travel to Ogden to face the Bonneville Lakers Friday at 7:00 p.m.