OGDEN — Whether it was the plan or not, the first cheer from Ogden High’s student section was a premonition of things to come in Wednesday’s boys basketball rivalry game between the Tigers and Ben Lomond.

Before tipoff, the OHS student section tried to start the popular Seven Nation Army chant, but it quickly fizzled out because almost nobody was in sync.

The basketball game was even more out of whack. Both teams struggled to score, whether on contested or open looks, but the Tigers eventually made a few more shots than the Scots and won 42-31 to snap a four-game losing streak in front of a strangely disengaged crowd.

Ogden took a 15-8 halftime lead (yes, halftime) and the margin was as high as 10 in the third quarter. Between the final seconds of the third quarter and the early parts of the fourth, Ben Lomond made three 3-pointers to cut Ogden’s lead to 28-25.

Then the Tigers locked things down.

“We call it ‘winning time.’ We’ve been practicing and it’s like when there’s 3 minutes left in the game, we just know that every possession matters and that we’re going to take the best shot possible,” said Ogden guard Stockton Marriott, who had 10 points.

A Teegan Porter 3 made it 31-25 for Ogden (8-11, 4-3 Region 13), which began pulling away with a series of stops on the defensive end plus a driving bucket by Bingham Call, another Porter 3 and a Marriott free throw after patient offensive possessions.

The Tigers started the quarter with a turnover, scored on five straight possessions and ended the quarter with a 3 late in the shot clock by Jack Blodgett that put the game on ice.

Porter led Ogden with 11 points and Call scored eight.

Early on, the game was marked by both teams’ inability to make open shots, whether it was a wide-open fastbreak or a wide-open 3-pointer, and a propensity for turnovers. Between the 3:06 mark of the first quarter and the 4:32 mark of the second, Ogden went on a 10-2 run to turn a 5-5 tie into a 15-7 lead.

The Tigers course-corrected enough in the second half to offset the ugly first half, but after the quick burst early in the fourth, Ben Lomond (2-18, 1-6) succumbed to the bad shooting night. Ogden’s students tried another cheer in the second half, “ball in the hoop,” and the Tigers double-dribbled the one time the chant rang out.

“We’ve just gotta stay positive and know that the next one’s going in, and keep pushing each other and telling each other to hit the next one,” Marriott said. “Yeah it’s a little frustrating sometimes, but we just keep our heads up and keep getting the next play.”

Ogden’s defensive focus was to keep Ben Lomond leading scorer Jake East from controlling the game. East led all scorers with 13 points, but the Tigers limited his paint touches and he had just one 2-point field goal; the other 11 points came from 3s or free throws.

Both teams wrap up their regular seasons Friday, then await the release of the 3A state tournament bracket Saturday. The RPI rankings are currently hidden from the public view, but Ogden has been hovering around the Nos. 12-14 spots, putting the Tigers on the cusp of either a first-round home game, or a first-round bye straight into a second-round road game.

Ben Lomond has been at the bottom spot, No. 19, recently and is likely looking at a first-round road game, potentially at Ogden if the cards fall in such a way.

Connect with reporter Patrick Carr via email at pcarr@standard.net, Twitter @patrickcarr_ and Instagram @standardexaminersports.

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