HYRUM—Senior Kyler Carlsen played the game of his life Friday night against the valley rival Mountain Crest Mustangs, scoring 31 points and grabbing four rebounds. Carlsen hit a quick turn-around 3-point buzzer beater to send the game into overtime, but Carlsen’s efforts weren’t quite enough, as the Sky View Bobcats fell to the Mustangs, 56-51 in final overtime.

With the loss, the Bobcats fall to 9-2 in Region 5, and 14-3 overall. Unless the Mustangs lose twice and the Bobcats win twice, the Mustangs clinched the Region 5 title with the win over the Bobcats. This was the third loss this season that the Bobcats suffered against the Mustangs.

Carlsen played outstanding for the Bobcats but didn’t get much help for his teammates. Garrett Hinton was the only Bobcat to come close to double-digit scoring five points.

“We needed points from a few more people to step up,” Bobcats head coach Kyle Anderson said.

Matt Stewart paced the Mustangs balanced offense with 20 points, 11 of which came from the free-throw line. Tyler Weese chipped in 14 points and Cal Hanks finished the night with 12 points, including a lay-up in the final seconds of overtime that sealed the Mustangs victory.

The Bobcats held a small lead early in the first quarter, but Weese and Stewart kept the Mustangs on top throughout the rest of regulation. In the final seconds of the fourth quarter, the Bobcats forced a Mustang turnover and called a timeout. Out of the timeout, Nick Eskelson got open for a 3-point attempt and missed. Carlsen somehow came up with the offensive board, ran to the corner and hit a turnaround 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.

“I was actually surprised it (the buzzer) hadn’t gone off yet. I was just booking it for the 3-pointer,” Carlsen said.

Headed into overtime, the Bobcats forced another Mustang turnover and Carlsen hit another 3-pointer. That would be the last lead the Bobcats would enjoy, as Cal Hanks and Stewart out-scored the Bobcats 9-4 in overtime.

“We gave ourselves a chance to win down the stretch, that’s what you ask for against good teams like that,” Anderson said. “We just had some bounces that didn’t go our way; couldn’t come up with the loose ball, had it in our hands and things like that.”

Mustangs head coach Jim Crosbie said, ""We just kept telling them, ’don’t panic.’ I was just really happy with them, the way they didn’t panic and executed play in crunch time."

Up next for the Bobcats are the last place Bonneville Lakers at home for Senior Night. The Bobcats defeated the Lakers, 57-41, on Jan 29th at Washington Terrace, and pounded the Lakers in Smithfield on Jan. 13th, 70-42.

Tip-off against the Lakers is set for 7 p.m.

Game stats

Sky View — Free-throws, 11-13 (84.6%); FG, 19-39 (48%); 3-PT, 2-8 (25%)