| Brennan Bigelow heads for the hoop against Christian Heritage. |
Nobody should blame the Green River Pirate basketball team if they finished play for the 2007-08 basketball season tired. All they had to do was play for four straight days, with one game going to triple overtime, and have the same five players score all the points in every ballgame.
Green River started the week at home by hosting Mount Vernon High School on Tuesday night for the right to continue play. In this play-in game, the winner advanced to play the next morning in Richfield and the loser stayed home and their season was over. Green river won this game but it took three overtimes for the Pirates to finally prevail by 2 points. Green River won the game 88-86.
The ball game started at 5 p.m., should have been over at around 6:30 but instead lasted another 30 minutes or so and then the team had to be ready to play at 10 a.m. the next morning in Richfield at the Sevier Valley Center.
Kayden Mecham led the way for Green River with 22 points and 20 rebounds. Jason Johnson and Tyson Johnson each scored 19 points in the extended game and each pulled down at least 10 rebounds. Brennan Bigelow scored 21 points and Luis Mendoza scored 7 points.
Wednesday morning, the Green River team opened the tournament playing Panguitch High School and could not muster enough energy against the well-rested team and lost the game 88-42.
| Luis Mendoza puts up a lay-up in state playoff action. |
Tyson Johnson led the way with 13 points and was the only Pirate to finish the game in double figures. Mendoza scored 9 points, Bigelow scored 8 points and Mecham and Jason Johnson each scored 6 points.
Green River came back on Thursday and defeated Bryce Valley in consolation play. With all five starters finishing this game in double figures for scoring, the team outlasted their opponent and won 66-61.
Brennan Bigelow was the leading scored this day and finished with 19 points. Tyson Johnson and Mecham each finished the game with 13 points, Mendoza scored 11 points and Jason Johnson scored 10 points.
On Friday, the Pirates season came to a close with a 63-45 loss at the hands of Christian Heritage. Luis Mendoza was the leading scorer in this game and finished with 14 points. Luis scored on four 3-point shots. Luis was the fourth player to be the leading scorer in a game during the week.
Tyson Johnson scored 10 points, Bigelow scored 9 points, Jason Johnson scored 7 points and Mecham scored 5 points.
Although the Pirates did not end placing at the state tournament, they picked up valuable experience by playing the four extra games last week against quality opponents. With the Pirates being a extremely young team, this should bode well for them in the upcoming years.