Seniors’ Night—Bobcats Complete Regular Season at Home with Victory

Image: Kyler Carlsen

Kyler Carlsen (Corey Burger)

SMITHFIELD—It’s a moment every high school athlete thinks about: the final time they’ll play on their home turf. And there’s always an anxious thought that lingers: we better win that last game.

That’s just what the Sky View boys’ basketball team did Wednesday night, defeating the visiting Bonneville Lakers in a nail-biter, 39-36, for their final regular-season home game.

Sky View shot out of the gates to start the game. Senior Kyler Carlsen scored 11 of his game-high 14 points in the first quarter, including three 3-pointers. Senior Garrett Hinton scored the first point of the game, while senior Chris Bennion had five points in the first quarter.

Bonneville’s Jordan Tesch kicked off the scoring for the Lakers, hitting a 3-point shot two minutes into the first quarter. But the Lakers couldn’t keep up with Bobcats during the first period as Sky View outscored Bonneville 17-9 after eight minutes of play.

“We got off to a great start,” said head coach Kevin Anderson. “We just got to be more consistent.”

The Bobcats slowed down offensively in the second quarter, while the Lakers maintained their pace. Senior Brian Godfrey hit two free throws during the quarter, while junior Jordan Nielsen, Carlsen and Bennion all added two-point buckets as Sky View put up eight points in the second period.

The Lakers put up ten points during the same period.

“We had some silly turnovers tonight I thought, some unforced turnovers,” said Anderson. “We got to eliminate those. We can’t give away those possessions offensively.”

The Bobcats took a six-point lead into halftime, 25-19.

Sky View struggled score points during the third quarter. Senior Tanner Crockett hit a jump shot a minute into the quarter, while Bennion added a jump shot of his own with 4:28 left in the period. Four points was all the Bobcats could muster during the first eight minutes of the second half.

“[In the] second half we weren’t making shots as a team,” said Carlsen. “I think we just kind of got in a slump, like we were all missing shots.”

“We had some good looks,” added Anderson. “We missed some easy ones inside. We got a little tight, and we didn’t execute very well offensively. We’re going to have games like this when our shots don’t drop.”

Bonneville, behind scoring from four different players, put eight points on the board during the same period, pulling within two at the end of the third quarter.

The scoring troubles continued for Sky View at the beginning of the fourth. Bonneville scored four points early in the final period to take a two-point lead.

With 5:59 left in the game, Eskelson stole the ball from a Laker player and raced the length of the court to score a layup. That bucket ended a Bobcat scoring drought that had lasted almost seven minutes, spanning parts of the third and fourth quarters.

“We got a few key steals down the stretch and we converted them into fouls on the other end, or buckets,” said Carlsen.

Both teams swapped buckets during the last five minutes. Bonneville’s Brady Borkland hit a 15-foot jump shot with 3:00 left to pull the Lakers within one point, 36-35. 75 seconds later, Tesch hit a free throw to tie the game up at 36.

“We just needed to share the ball and play good D and just take good shots,” said Bennion.

With just over a minute to go in the game, Bennion hit a 16-foot jump shot to give the Bobcats the lead for good. Bonneville’s Tesch had an open 3-point shot attempt, but the ball ricocheted off the iron, and, after Carlsen added a free throw, the Bobcats were able to hold on for the win.

“It’s fun for them,” to win on senior night, said Anderson. “You never believe that this night is going to come… They’ve worked hard as a group of seniors. They’re a great group of kids. I’m just happy for them to go out on a win on their home court.”

Sky View (15-4) travels to Logan on Friday to face the Grizzlies (6-13) at 7 p.m. for their second-to-last game of the regular season.

Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
Bonneville 9 10 8 9 36
Sky View 17 8 4 10 39
No Player Points
#12 Kyler Carlsen 14
#42 Chris Bennion 11
#34 Jordan Nielsen 4
#21 Nick Eskelson 3
#10 Tanner Crockett 2
#22 Brian Godfrey 2
#15 Derrick Nield 2
#40 Garrett Hinton 1