After a rough start to Region-5 play, the Sky View boys basketball team had a chance to even their record Friday night, as they hosted the Box Elder Bees. Junior center Casey Oliverson played huge for the Bobcats, as he finished with 16 rebounds and 16 points, including the game winning free-throw to give the Sky View the 45-44 victory over the Bees at Bobcat Gym.

“I was proud of our defense,” Bobcats head coach Kevin Anderson said. “Holding that team to 44 points was huge for us.”

The Bobcats (6-4, 2-2) were very concerned about containing guards Brant Mecham and Shad Watson who had been averaging 17 and 13 points per game respectively for the Bees (5-5, 2-2). Sky View’s defense was able to hold to dynamic duo to just 13 points on the night, as Brant Mecham finished with six points and Watson added seven.

“One of their best players … (Brant) Mecham … he was our goal to key on and we locked him up pretty good on him I thought,” said Oliverson.

Senior forward Justus Brown stepped up however, with Brant Mecham and Watson not hitting all cylinder, as he finished with 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field.

“Brown came in and lit it up tonight,” Anderson said. “We hold Watson and Mecham to 13 points, but Brown comes in and has 19 against us, and he played well. We’ve got to correct that. We can’t let players step up against us like that.”

It was a close game the entire way that wasn’t decided till the final second of the game, and the Bobcats needed every bit of Oliverson’s points as he was the only Sky View player to finish in double figures. Jordan Nielson finished with eight points, and Grayson Moore added seven.

The Bobcats held a marginal two point advantage at halftime, but they were able to distance themselves somewhat as Don Corbell hit a jumper and Riley Knowles hit a long 3-point bucket to put the Bobcats up seven. The Bees, who had still yet to score at the 3:22 mark of the third quarter, called timeout to stop the bleeding and it worked. Brown hit a hook shot out of the timeout out the fueled 12-4 run to give the Bees a one point lead going into the fourth quarter.

“We go on the seven-point run in the third quarter and they came back to take the lead and our kids just kept battling,” Anderson said.

Mecham put the Bees up 44-40 with 1:26 remaining in the game on two-free throws, but it would be the last points Box Elder would score. On the ensuing possession Oliverson, who had struggled greatly from line, hit two freebies to pull the Bobcats within two. Jordan Nielsen them forced a turnover at mid-court and followed that with a heavily contested lay-up to knot the game at 44-apiece. Nielsen got fouled on the play, but was unable to make the free-throw. Oliverson was then able to somehow keep the ball alive, and knock the ball out of bounds of a Bee.

“We kept our poise,” Anderson said. “That last minute we didn’t unravel. Down four under one minute to go, we could have said it’s over and gone home, but the energy and the hustle they with in the last minute won the game for us.”

Knowles had a chance to put the game away with 21.6 seconds remaining from the free-throw line, but he missed the front end of a one-and-one. Oliverson knocked the ball away from Box Elder and Jordan Nielsen fell on the ball and called timeout from the seat of his pants.

“Jordan Nielsen’s rebound and timeout under the basket; what a hustle play,” Anderson said. “It doesn’t show up on the stat sheet, but I tell you what, it was huge for us.”

Out of the timeout, Knowles found Oliverson under the basket and he missed the lay-up, but he got his own rebound and got fouled on the follow up attempt. The Bees thought time had ran out and plead their case vehemently to the officials, but to no avail as Oliverson calmly hit one free-throw with less than a second remaining. It was enough as a last second full-court attempt from Kyler Mecham fell short.

“What a pressure packed situation,” Anderson said. “Casey just steps up and nails that first one with point-eight seconds. It didn’t leave them with a lot of options because they had no timeouts left.”

The Bobcats, who are now in a three-way tie for second place with Mountain Crest and Box Elder, will be on the road next Wednesday against the Region-5 first place Ogden Tigers before gearing up for valley-rival Mountain Crest on Friday.

“We’ve just got to keep getting better,” Anderson said of his team who was originally picked to win Region-5. “We had some silly turnovers at times …. we’ve got to continue to improve each day.”