Sean Hales / Messenger Photo
Despite the best efforts of the Bulldogs, such as Erick Rosenvall, Tylan Jackson owned the paint and burned Gunnison for 31 points, leading his team to a 84-62 win last Friday.

‘Painting’ the Bulldogs
By Sean Hales
1-30-08

GUNNISON—Manti’s Tylan Jackson owned the paint last Friday, putting up 31 points and leading his team to a win over the Gunnison Bulldogs, 84-62 last Friday.
But it wasn’t a blowout—at least not until the third quarter when the Templars outscored the Bulldogs by 11 points, 26-15.
And it wasn’t until a hard foul by Gunnison’s Taylor Newman late in the quarter that Manti started to separate from their opponents.
A Gunnison turnover resulted in a fast break for Manti’s Griffin Aste, who Newman took to the ground. The play resulted in two technical fouls and two free throws, which were all made, and gave Manti an eight-point lead. Two possessions later, Manti led by 13.
“He was frustrated by his own game,” said Gunnison head coach Jeremy Smith. “He [Newman] said he was trying to stop him from scoring.”
The Templars led by three after the first quarter, and seven after two periods of play, but it could have been more.
Manti’s Nick Brown committed fouls in the final seconds of both quarters that kept the Bulldogs in the game.
In the first quarter, Brown fouled Bryant Davis behind the arc. Davis sunk all three, narrowing the gap from six points to three, 16-19.
Brown again fouled in the final moments of the second quarter, and instead of being down by eight, a make on the shots reduced it to seven, 37-30.
Bulldog Kevin Nay helped Gunnison keep it close in the first half, draining two key 3-pointers which, in both instances, kept Manti’s lead at five points.
Ultimately, however, the game came down to which team capitalized on mistakes and turnovers and, in a game with many shot opportunities, which team found the net the most.
In both instances, Manti won.
For example, in the second quarter, a Gunnison steal resulted in a fast break, but Cutler Frandsen missed the easy bucket. Manti got the rebound and David Hugentobler found the bottom of the net for the Templars’ only 3-pointer of the night.
In the third quarter, Gunnison again generated a steal but a hurried pass sailed out of bounds, an opportunity that the Templars turned into points.
Gunnison had nine steals in the contest, but none of them turned into points.
When Gunnison did get into their half-court game, Manti’s defense, led by the smart play and leadership of Hugentobler, limited looks and forced bad shots.
As for shooting, Manti hit 70 percent from the field compared to just 36 percent for the Bulldogs.
“Against a good team like that you’ve got to be able to shoot lights-out,” Smith said. “Thirty-six percent’s not ever going to get it done.”
Also, Manti got the ball in the paint—a lot. According to Smith, only six Templar shots were outside the key.
“To Manti’s credit they knew our weaknesses and attacked,” said Smith. Referencing the Bulldogs’ lack of size he said, “Anytime a team hammers it inside like that we’re going to get beat.”
Besides Jackson, the Templars had two other players in double figures: Aste with 19 and Hugentobler with 18. Brown followed up with eight. Callan Jones had four points, and Russ Hugentobler and Chase Barrus each had two.
The Bulldogs had four players reach double figures: Nay with a team-high 22, followed by Derrick Christensen with 16, Erick Rosenvall with 12 and Bryant Davis with 10. Only one other Bulldog made the stat sheet with points, Cason Lund with two.
In other games for the teams last week, the Templars routed the North Sevier Wolves, 73-45, and Gunnison lost a close one to Richfield, 56-48.
For the Templars, Tylan Jackson again came up big, scoring a team-high 18 points as Manti sealed the game early, going up 41-17 at the half. Manti’s defense forced 25 North Sevier turnovers that resulted in 20 points for the Templars.
Manti had 11 offensive rebounds compared to 5 for the Wolves. Second-half action saw most of the Templars get into the game with nine team members getting in the scoring column.
Dave Hugentobler followed Jackson with 15 points, Russ Hugentobler had nine and Griffin Aste and Jens Howe both had eight. Callan Jones recorded five, Chase Barrus and Nick Brown had four each and Zach Bown got two.
For Gunnison, shooting woes again got to the Bulldogs last Wednesday against Richfield as Nay, 2A’s leading scorer, could only manage 16 points and only one other player made it into double figures as Rosenvall had 10.
Although Gunnison pulled down 19 defensive rebounds, they only got five offensive boards.
Christensen followed Rosenvall and Nay with nine points, and Cutler Frandsen had eight.
This week, Manti and Gunnison both travel south to play their second games against San Juan and Grand. Manti plays Grand and Gunnison faces San Juan on Friday. The Templars’ game against San Juan on Saturday should settle which team will possess the third-place spot in the region.
The Bulldogs have another game this week, tonight, against the North Sevier Wolves.
Next week, on Wednesday, Manti and Gunnison will face each other in Manti.