By Jaxson Carlisle
On Tuesday night, the Ignite basketball team traveled to Salt Lake City for its fifth and sixth region games of the season. Not having its two starting guards, Brendan Palacios and Tyler Moynier, Ignite had to play without them and try to earn wins against the undefeated Triple Threat team and the Viewmont Vikings, whom were ranked #5.
The boys started off the night by playing Triple Threat. Ignite started off with a 6-0 run before going up 13-10 with seven minutes left in the half. Triple Threat then could not be stopped going into the half as they went up 44-20.
Ignite managed to get nine more points in the next half as they dropped the matchup 67-29.
JP Powell led the team with 13 points along with six rebounds. Brayden Olsen had fours points as well as five rebounds. Jaxson Carlisle added four points while Jaydon Freeze chipped in a three point shot and Jordan Thomas led the team in rebounding with seven along with two points. Riley Mitcheson also had two points in the contest and Jaylon Dennis added one point and three assists.
After this matchup, Ignite sought to rebound following the loss with a contest against Viewmont.
The Vikings had made eight three pointers in the first half, leading Ignite 32-8 at the break. Ignite had a 9-0 offensive run to start the next half before Viewmont exploded and would hold on to the lead to defeat Ignite 60-31.
Powell had a double-double against Viewmont with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Carlisle had nine points, all from downtown, along with five rebounds while Jordan Thomas had four points and five rebounds, Taio Badback led the team in assists with three. Jabari Griffin chipped in a two-point shot as well in the loss against Viewmont.
Ignite (5-3, 3-3 Northern Region) has dropped to #7 in the premier rankings and will need to get in the top six to advance to the championship brackets. The team will play on Feb. 20 at 6 and 7 p.m. for its last region games at Summit Christian Academy. Ignite will need to pick up at least one win to advance.
The team will play #1 ranked D.C Dawgs and the Utah Thunder. They would like anyone who could drive up and support the AAU High School team to help cheer them on to hopefully pick up the region victories.