Utah teams AND players wow ’em Saturday

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LEHI, UTAH – Less than 24 hours after holding on to win in its toughest test of the season, the Harvard-Westlake High boys basketball team ran into figurative “buzzsaw” early Saturday evening at Lehi High on the final day of the Holiday Hoopfest.

And it came in the form of a Timpview squad that had been limited to 39 points Friday night on its homecourt in Provo, in a three-point loss to another Utah-based program, Layton Christian Academy.

But eight on-court minutes into their game with California’s two-time defending State Open Division champion, the Thunderbirds had blasted the Wolverines’ usually stout perimeter defense for seven 3s – the last of those on a release from near mid-court by Mason Ford which went thru the rim at the buzzer sounded for a 12-point advantage.

The 12-point final margin – at 61-49 – wasn’t indicative of the totality of the dominance by the Thunderbirds, who finished with 11 3s, from seven players, while using their across-the-board size, lateral and vertical quickness and mixing defenses to allow very view clean looks for Harvard-Westlake shooters.

In seeing the program’s 22-game win streak snapped (the last loss came via a Mission League game at Sierra Canyon just short of 11 months ago), leading scorers Nik Khamenia, Joe Sterling and Isaiah Carroll missed a combined 31 of 39 shots from the floor.

Coach David Rebibo’s team (9-1), which edged Bartlett of Tennessee Friday night, 57-54, doesn’t have a lot time for self-reflection:

The Wolverines have three games this week, two of those coming against Southern Section Open Division candidates Windward (Tuesday) and JSerra (Saturday).

The Thunderbirds  – even at just 4-2 – may have the most gifted roster of any Utah public school program.

Coach Izzy Ingle’s top seven players are juniors, with 6-foot-8 Dean Rueckert (nine points, seven rebounds, four assists and three blocks) and 6-9 Will Openshaw (18 points, nine rebounds and nifty low-post moves to go with his three 3s) among the best Class of 2026 college prospects in the west.

They’ll travel to Las Vegas this week to play in a dazzling 16-team Platinum Division of the Tarkanian Classic that includes the likes of Harvard-Westlake Mission League foe Notre Dame and many others among SoCal’s best, such as Brayden Burries-led Roosevelt.

A large chunk of the folks who filled Lehi’s gym to near capacity (2,025) immediately after the HW-Timpview game came to ooh and aah over future BYU Cougar A.J. Dybansta of Utah Prep.

The 6-8, consensus No. 1 player in the Class of 2025 – who committed to the Provo-based program earlier in the week – didn’t disappoint them, either.

Dybansta (pictured/courtesy the Great Greg Stein) scored 26 points (most of those of the specular variety) to go with 10 rebounds as his team knocked off a gifted Duncanville (TX) squad, 84-70.

The Texas team’s sophomore guards, Beckham Black and Christopher Hunt, Jr., combined for 33 points and, IMO, were surpassed only by Dybansta on the floor as long-term “prospects”.

In the first game played Saturday morning, Corner Canyon (6-2) extended its winning streak to six with a 68-50 decision against Fort Worth Eastern Hills (5-5).

Boise State-bound guard Noah Bendinger scored 11 of his game-high 24 points in the third quarter while another senior guard, Bryton Valdez, added 15 points and give assists.

Seniors Dorian Johnson (18) and  Messiah Williams (17) combined for 70 percent of Eastern Hills’ scoring.

In the next game, Baton Rouge Liberty Magnet (8-1) won its second game here, controlling St. Louis Cardinal Ritter (1-5), 56-43.

Two other Utah-based teams,  host Lehi (losing to Bartlett, 70-55), and Orem (59-53 over New York’s St. Raymond’s in the event finale) split their games Saturday.