Herriman boys basketball hopes to rise to top of region

Herriman boys basketball coach Brad Tingey said there is parity in Region 7 this year. The first two Mustang region games of the year proved him right.

The team opened region play at Westlake Jan. 13. Tied at the end of four quarters, the teams went to overtime. Tied again at the end of overtime, the team went to double overtime, where the Mustangs fell short with a 50-49 loss.

The Mustangs came home Jan. 18 to face Murray. The Mustang rallied from a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter to tie the game and send it to overtime once again. This time, though, the Mustangs prevailed 55-47.

“You could say we learned from that first game,” Tingey said. “The experience of overtime helped us.”

The biggest difference was the improvement in free throws, Tingey said. The team was 5-11 in free throws against Westlake and 12-15 against Murray. In the second half, the team was 10-11.

“Every night is going to be a close battle,” Tingey said. “I think that’s what our league is going to be like. It’s just going to be a really tough game every single night, and whoever is the toughest team on that night is going to get the win.”

The Mustangs ended the preseason 5-5 with wins against Copper Hills (54-47), Spanish Fork (59-52), Kearns (62-49), and rivals Bingham (64-59) and Riverton (51-47). The team lost to West Jordan (73-46), Lehi (66-62), Hunter (61-59), Alta (43-36), and East (58-47).

The team is led by seniors Tanner McKissick, Brady Beard, Kyle Sanford, Jaden Rasmussen, Alex Losee, and Tyler Cornia and junior Tueni Lupeamanu.

“We don’t have a superstar on the team. Everybody contributes and we just do it as a team,” Tingey said.

The Mustangs lost to Olympus at home Jan. 24 (51-45).

Region play ends Feb. 21 at home against Skyline. The top four teams in the region are invited to the state tournament.

“I feel pretty good about how we’re competing and what we’re doing,” Tingey said. “We’ve just got to hunker down and get those close games.”