The Sky View Bobcats hadn’t won a Region title in quite some time. In fact it had been seven long years since the Bobcats had claimed the title.

Senior forward Grayson Moore scored 21 points to lead the Bobcats over the Box Elder Bees, 54-50 Friday at Bobcat Gymnasium for Senior Night. The game was close the entire way, but it was a great effort on both ends of the ball from Moore and the rest of his teammates that brought the Region 5 title back to Smithfield.

“It was a battle,” Bobcats head coach Kevin Anderson said. "That’s probably the way a region championship game should be. Box Elder’s playing for seeding. They have a lot to play for. We were playing for that No. 1 seed. I’ll tell ya what, I thought both teams just battled … physical game and it was just a battle.

Moore got the Bobcats scoring going in the first quarter with a wide open 3-pointer from the left elbow. Moore would also hit a layup to beat the buzzer at the end of the first quarter to give the Bobcats a 12-6 lead.

“The shot was just coming to me. It felt good tonight, so I just kept shooting it,” Moore said. “I was trying to shoot within the offense. I just kept getting good looks. They’d sag off me and I’d shoot it. I tried to get everyone else involved, but if a shot was there I was taking it.”

The Bees would lock down the Bobcats offense in the second quarter, as they held them to just seven points. On the offensive end, Box Elder’s star player senior guard Brant Mecham started heating up, as he scored six of the Bee’s 14-first-half-points.

“Hats off to Box Elder,” Anderson said. “They are a tough team. They are a tough team for us to beat. I’m proud of our kids for doing it.”

It was a defensive struggle for both teams in the first half, but in the second half the Bobcats really turned on the offense.

A thunderous put-back dunk from junior forward Casey Oliverson in the waning minutes of the third quarter gave the Bobcats a 35-30 lead and forced the Bees into a timeout. Out of the timeout, Mecham, who scored 15 of his game-high 32 points in the third quarter, reeled off five consecutive points to tie the game at 35 apiece.

That’s when senior guard Riley Knowles hit a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to spark a 14-6 Bobcat run. Moore hit a 3-pointer to beat the buzzer and the end of the third quarter and one to start the fourth quarter as a part of that run, and two free-throws from Oliverson gave the Bobcats their largest lead of the night at 49-41.

“We got up eight in the final minutes of the game, and good teams aren’t going to back down,” Anderson said. “Box Elder is so dangerous with the weapons they have. They can shoot so well, so they are never really out of the game. We have an eight point lead and it’s gone in a matter of a minute or so and they are right back in it.”

The Bees called timeout with 4:12 to play after Oliverson’s free-throws, and responded with a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 49-47. That’s the closest Box Elder would get however, as the Bobcats locked down on defense and made enough free-throws to seal the victory.

" We had some clutch stops at critical times down the stretch," Anderson said. “Fortunately they missed a couple of shots and we came up with some rebounds.”

Oliverson finished the night with seven points and 10 rebounds, while senior guard Riley Knowles finished with 11 points in what as an all-around team effort.

We put eight or nine kids in the game, and I’ll tell ya what, some of them might not have been in there very long, but they came in and did some great things for us to help us win," Anderson said. “A great team effort. I couldn’t be more proud of our 16 kids. I’m just so proud right now.”

Not only was it great for the Bobcats to get a win on Senior Night, but it was great for them to be able to achieve expectations.

“We were picked at the beginning of the season to be region champions and we had a target on our chests,” Moore said. “Everyone wants to give their A game against us. It was a tough battle for region.”

“It’s really special. I almost teared up before the game. It was great to come out like that as a team. It’s huge to get a win on Senior Night.”

Anderson said he feels fortunate to be named among the few who earn the right to be champs in their respective regions across the state.

“Unless you’ve played for it, I’m not sure people realize how much effort and hard work it takes to win a region championship,” he said. “I was just telling them that five teams in the 4A classification walk away at the end of the season as region champions. We’re fortunate this year to be one of those five this year.”

The Bobcats have also had a tough go earning the Region 5 title, even though they were picked to win.

“It’s a lot of hard work from the kids,” Anderson said. “They’re the ones out there sweating and going through injuries, and they just hung with us this year. It hasn’t been the smoothest ride for us. We’ve had some bumps along the way, but we’ve endured and they deserve it.”

The Bobcats will conclude the regular season at Ogden on Wednesday.

Scoring

Box Elder (10-10, 7-7)

Shad Watson 1 0-0 2, Ethan Bennett 0 2-2 2, Justus Brown 3 3-4 9, Chad Talbot 4 2-2 10, Brant Mecham 5 10-12 23, Trevor Cobbley 1 0-0 2, Colby Quayle 0 1-2 1, Eli Smith 0 1-2 1. Totals 14 19-25 50.

Sky View (14-6, 10-4)

Grayson Moore 6 5-6 21, Riley Knowles 2 5-6 11, Don Corbell 1 2-2 4, Ty Nielsen 1 2-6 4, Casey Oliverson 2 3-10 7, Jordan Nielsen 2 0-4 4, Anthony Israelsen 0 0-0 0, Riley Jensen 0 0-0 0, Colton Arave 1 0-0 3. Totals 15 17-34 54.

3-point goals — Box Elder 3 (Mecham 3), Sky View 7 (Moore 4, Knowles 2).
Rebounds — Box Elder 18 (Mecham 5), Sky View 25 (Oliverson 10).
Assists — Box Elder 15 (Mecham 4), Sky View 10 (Moore 2).
Blocks — Box Elder 0, Sky View 6 (Oliverson 3).
Steals — Box Elder 4 (Talbot 2), Sky View 7 ( Moore 2, T. Nielsen 2).
Turnovers — Box Elder 9 (Watson 4), Sky View 20 (T. Nielsen 6).