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Syracuse's Kaden Ericksen takes a jump shot in the 6A boys basketball state quarterfinals against American Fork on Tuesday, March 1, 2022, at the University of Utah.

Patrick Carr, Standard-Examiner

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Syracuse High's boys basketball team meets before the 6A state quarterfinals against American Fork on Tuesday, March 1, 2022 at the University of Utah.

Patrick Carr, Standard-Examiner

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Syracuse High's boys basketball team cheers after a made shot against American Fork in the 6A state quarterfinals Tuesday, March 1, 2022, at the University of Utah.

Patrick Carr, Standard-Examiner

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SALT LAKE CITY — On paper, the No. 18-seeded Syracuse boys basketball team wasn’t supposed to be at the Huntsman Center for Tuesday’s 6A state quarterfinals.

They went 8-13 in the regular season and faced the prospect of two road playoff games before they could even get there.

The junior-heavy team under a first-year head coach picked things up right on time with two playoff wins and took the floor Tuesday afternoon at the Huntsman Center.

Their brief Cinderella run ended Tuesday against No. 10 American Fork in a 60-43 loss in the 6A quarterfinals.

It was Syracuse’s (10-14) first quarterfinal appearance since a 2013 game played at Weber State. Perhaps ironically, the Titans lost that game to American Fork 41-37 — but that was nine years and a couple of coaches ago.

This year’s group, under first-year coach Mike Russell, hadn’t advanced far enough in the postseason to get to the neutral-site games.

“What a ride,” Russell said. “From my first day here on this job, nobody expected us to be where we’re at, so we thanked (the players) for buying in and working hard for us because that’s ultimately what got us to where we are.”

To even get to Tuesday, Syracuse had to first beat No. 18 Lone Peak on the road, then pulled off a huge upset last week at defending state champion and No. 2 seed Davis.

Against No. 10 American Fork, Syracuse had a four-point lead early in the first quarter, then found itself down 30-19 at halftime.

“I think they’re pretty disappointed in how they played. They didn’t play really well and that’s credit to American Fork,” Russell said. “They’re very well-rounded, well-coached, they’re physical, big and, I mean, I could go on.”

The issue wasn’t shooting in the first half because Syracuse, the last Region 1 team remaining in the 6A boys tournament, shot 8 of 12 from the floor and found a ton of success off the dribble drive.

The issue was 13 turnovers and American Fork’s 18 resulting points (also, the Cavemen shot 13 of 21 in the first half).

“Those killed us,” Russell said.

The Titans only committed three turnovers in the second half, but the Cavemen took away their dribble-drive action that resulted in first-half points.

As the Syracuse offense sputtered, American Fork was efficient and steadily built its lead to as much as 19 points. AF ended up shooting 23 of 41 (56.1%) from the field.

Syracuse’s Brevin Hamblin scored a team-high 12 points with 13 rebounds and four steals before fouling out midway through the fourth quarter. Kaden Ericksen had 11 points and Carter Semrow scored 10 points.

The Titans ended up shooting 15 of 32 (46.9%) from the floor and 11 of 15 at the foul line, but were 2 of 10 from 3-point range.

Two other runs ended Tuesday: the three-season streak of a Region 1 team reaching the 6A boys semifinals, and the two-season streak of a Region 1 team winning the state championship.

All four 6A boys semifinalists this year are from the Utah County-based Region 4.