SYRACUSE -- After trailing for three quarters, the Woods Cross Wildcats served a dramatic finish to a wild ride in Syracuse. "I just kept telling the kids to keep battling," coach Todd Street said. "And luckily we came back and gave ourselves a chance in the fourth quarter."
Woods Cross found its rhythm after being down by 12 at one point, and outlasted the host Titans 70-66.
Syracuse jumped out quickly in the first quarter, quickly converting five turnovers and shooting well to build a 19-8 lead going into the second quarter.
Woods Cross -- with the help of 6-foot-3 Mark Evans, and 6-foot-6 Austin Bankowski -- was able to keep Syracuse from getting anything going holding Syracuse's big man, Andrew Cook to only one field goal on the night.
It made little difference.
With trouble combating Woods Cross down low, the Titan offense effectively found open men on the perimeter and -- also relying heavily on fast break points -- exploited the Wildcats to hold a 38-30 lead going into the half.
Things started to change in the third quarter as Bankowski and Evans found their niche inside and started to come up big on the boards.
Aided by a solid 8-point bench performance from Zach Hunsaker, the Wildcats tied the game on a Parker Rose 3-pointer with 6:30 remaining.
Evans scored 8 of his 16 points in the fourth and Bankowski crashed the boards leaving the Titans helpless to stop the Wildcat onslaught.
"They were a lot better than us in the beginning of the game," Street said. "Our big kids inside were tough for them to handle and eventually we got it into them which we struggled to do at the start."
With 53.8 seconds left, Wade Rasmussen nailed a clutch 3-point shot to cut the Woods Cross lead to two, 65-63.
But as Syracuse desperately fouled the Wildcats in the last seconds, Woods Cross made just enough from the line, shooting 68 percent on the night, to keep the Titan comeback from victory.
Tyler Phelps scored 17 to lead Syracuse, with Jaxon Reid checking in with 13. Rasmussen added 11.
Woods Cross handed the Titans their fourth loss of the season before Syracuse opens up region play at home against Clearfield on Jan. 5.
* WEBER 53, RIVERTON 46: At Riverton, After an 11-point first-half effort, the Warriors woke and responded with a strong final two quarters.
"I think we stepped it up offensively, and focused on what we needed to do," Weber's Dallin Adams said after the contest.
Adams finished with 19 points, 17 in the fourth quarter as the Warriors stopped the host team. Adams also had seven rebounds.
Jake Oberg added 12 points, while Nate Elmer (7) and Trevor Bingham (6) controlled the boards. Weber outrebounded Riverton 30-21. The Warriors, coached by Mark Larsen due to coach Chad Sims' one-game suspension, were 18-of-22 from the free-throw line.
Garrett Gunderstrup led Riverton with 46.
* SKY VIEW 56, MORGAN 53: At Morgan, the host Trojans built a 13-point lead at halftime, but the shots didn't fall down the stretch at the Bobcats snuck out of town with a victory.
Kyler Carlsen led the Bobcats with 22 points.
Casey Evans scores 13 points and Dave Clark added 12 but the Trojans were just 3-of-5 from the foul line in the battle. After scoring 24 points in the first quarter, Morgan managed just 12 in the last two quarters.
* WATERFORD 47, ST. JOSEPH 25: At Ogden, 6-foot-11 Neal Monson visited the Jayhawks and intimidated the host team into a poor shooting night.
Monson finished with 23 points, 17 rebounds and five steals for the Ravens.
Joe Panushka held his own with nine points, nine rebounds and eight blocks.
Waterford led 28-10 at the break.
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