By Jaxson Carlisle
On Tuesday night, the Ignite AAU High School traveling team traveled to the Utah Athletic Center for their third and fourth region games of the season.
For their first region game of the day, Ignite started off by playing Kongo. Ignite started strong with two straight fast break layups by Tyler Moynier. Kongo then caught fire by hitting three straight three pointers. The rival team lead 30-22 into the half.
While Ignite was down 44-30, Moynier gave an assist to Brendan Palacios then a steal and fast break layup from JP Powell to cut the lead to 44-35. Moynier then forced a turnover and an assist from Palacios to Jaxson Carlisle for three on an 8-0 run. Kongo then took control for the rest of the match. This caused Ignite to lose their first region game and first game this season overall, 58-49.
Moynier had a total of 18 points along with Riley Mitcheson, Powell and Palacios each adding nine each. Carlisle obtained four points and four assists while Oscar Herrera added six rebounds and Jordan Thomas had three blocks.
Ignite then found themselves going up against A-Train Magic. Knowing that they needed a win to be up in the rankings, Ignite started off strong by leading their opponent 34-5 into the half.
Ignite didn’t seem to slow down as they were in control all the way through and won the matchup 63-17.
Moynier had a total of 13 points and six assists. Carlisle added eight rebounds and eight assists. Palacios had five points along with 10 rebounds and four assists. Mitcheson and Thomas both had five rebounds and four points each while Jabari Griffin and Jaylon Dennis both chipped in two points and three rebounds each.
Herrera notched six rebounds. Taio Badback had three assists and three boards and Jaydon Freeze added six points in the contest along with four rebounds. Powell scored 29 points along with 14 boards to notch in another double-double on the season.
Ignite (5-1, 3-1 Northern Region) will travel to Salt Lake City Feb. 6 for their two more region matches. The team will go up against Utah Triple Threat and Westlake Vikings.