Game Night Live Rewind: Best Plays From First Week Of Postseason In Boys Basketball

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The first week of the 4A, 5A and 6A state tournaments are in the books and the field is getting smaller and more competitive.

The week was full of buzzer beaters, slam dunks and amazing passes to keep you on your feet.

Here is the top five plays from this past week of high school boys basketball action from the first week of the postseason.

#5 Bountiful Big Man Hits Flat-Footed Contested Three-Pointer At The Horn

Bountiful star Robert Whaley made a flat-footed three-pointer with two defenders in his face. The Braves lost to Orem in the first round on February 24 by a final score of 60-58. Whaley finished with 27 points and that triple was his only one of the game. As the No. 23 seed, Orem went on to lose by four points to Brighton in the second round on February 26.

Also mentioned: 

• Snow Canyon player throws up quick putback in the lane to beat first quarter buzzer.
• Copper Hills drills stepback three-pointer to beat first half buzzer.
• Grantsville nails running three-pointer to beat the buzzer.
• Hurricane makes three-pointer with contact to beat third quarter horn.

#4 San Juan Player Uses Defenders Back For Easy Layup

San Juan’s Jensen Grover was inbounding the ball at their own baseline in the 3A semifinals against Grantsville. With his defender’s back turned to him, Grover bounced the ball off of his back, gathered possession and made the layup. Grover finished with 8 points in their 51-49 win over the Cowboys. The Broncos went to the 3A State Championship game and lost to Juab by four points.

Also mentioned:

• Bear River goes length of floor with just one dribble, finishing with reverse layup.
• Lone Peak player dishes no-look pass to baseline for easy layup.
• Grantsville guard bounces pass behind defenders back for easy finish by big man.
• Herriman guard finds big man in the paint while falling down.
• San Juan player bounces ball off defenders back on inbounds, finishes with wide open layup.
• San Juan player swiftly passes to big man while falling down to get easy layup.
• Snow Canyon guard passes up three-pointer, side arm dishes to teammate while in the paint for layup.

#3 Enterprise Guard Gets Pass Fake Layup To Go in Traffic

Enterprise guard Ryland Randall ran into the lane while faking a pass to the outside to get to the bucket and was fouled after making the layup. Randall had four points for the Wolves in their 60-53 loss to Layton Christian in the 2A State Championship game.

Also mentioned:

• Draper APA guard throws up reverse layup over his head.
• Logan player finds teammate wide open in the paint, who finished with layup over his head.
• San Juan player throws up layup with contact.
• Beaver forward finds teammate in the paint, threading the needle for easy layup.
• Bountiful guard puts up layup on right side while leaning left.
• Enterprise guard gets euro-step layup to go in traffic.

#2 Lehi Throws Alley-oop Dunk On Inbounds Pass

Lehi was passing the ball in on their own baseline. Tyson Hawkins was inbounding the ball when Peter Amakasu was seen wide open in the paint. Hawkins threw the ball up and Amakasu finished with the slam. Amakasu had 17 points and 9 rebounds in the Pioneers 69-44 win over Viewmont in the second round of the 5A state tournament. Hawkins finished with 7 points and 10 assists in the win. Lehi will host No. 11 Bonneville on Wednesday, March 3 at 7 p.m. MST in the quarterfinals. The game will be streamed on sports.ksl.com.

Also mentioned:

• Bountiful big man throws down dunk with left hand.
• Draper APA forward spins to the rim and finishes with right-handed slam.
• Parowan gets runout two-handed dunk.
• Parowan forward gets ahead of defense to rock the rim with a dunk.
• Juab gets steal and two-handed flush.
• Alta forward goes past defender along the baseline to finish with powerful dunk.
• Alta big throws down dunk over defender on the fastbreak.
• Layton Christian big man spins twice in the lane before rocking the rim with a slam.
• Jordan player gets deflected pass back on fastbreak, finishes with two-handed flush.
• Lehi throws alley-oop dunk on inbounds pass.

#1 Brighton Star Hits Three-Pointer To Send Game Into Overtime

Brighton football and basketball star Lander Barton drilled a three-pointer in the final seconds of the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime. Once the Bengals and Orem Tigers went to OT, Brighton picked up a 63-59 win to spoil their Cinderella run. Barton finished with 21 points and that triple he made was his only three-pointer of the game. Brighton will travel to No. 2 Olympus to battle for a spot in the 5A semifinals on Wednesday, March 3 at 7 p.m. MST.

SHOT OF THE NIGHT:

After his team was down by 10 with 5 minutes to play, @BanderLarton hits the 3 and completes the comeback to send @bengalsbhs and @OHSTigers to overtime! Bengals go onto win 63-59!@GNLRewind pic.twitter.com/GrgkGpsFRQ

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) February 27, 2021

Also mentioned:

• Pine View blocks Hurricane’s potential game-tying three-pointer.
• Roy banks in deep two-pointer to beat Kearns at the buzzer.
• Davis gets euro-step layup to go at the horn to beat Layton.

Check out all of the highlights from this past week of boys basketball tournament action in the video at the top of the story.

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