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Logan • The norm for high school basketball fans living in the Logan area has been to hit the road when state tournament time rolled around.

That changed when Utah State University hosted the Class 3A boys' and girls' tournaments this year.

And it was first-year school Ridgeline, located in nearby Millville, that took advantage of the change of venue. Almost an entire section at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum was filled with Riverhawks students, who exploded with joy at every bucket by their team in an 89-63 win over Juan Diego in the boys' championship game.

"They're absolutely the best student section in the state," said Ridgeline senior Theron Wallentine, who scored 56 points in his team's wins on the season's final two days. "Those guys have been so loyal to us all year and have been so loud. They've rallied behind us whether it was a 20-point or three-point game. Without them, there's no intensity or passion and it's just a slow game — and that doesn't help us any."

Ryan Bishop, assistant director for the Utah High School Activities Association, said it wasn't just Ridgeline supporters who cheered in the stands at USU.

"I thought it was great," Bishop said about the attendance. "Obviously it helped that the hometown school was in. They say this seats almost 11,000, and I would say it had to be half full today."

The Utah State men were preparing to host Air Force in a Mountain West Conference game even as fans were clearing out from the boys' and girls' championships Saturday.

"The 3A tournament has always been the one that has to travel from one end of the state to the other," Bishop said. "It's been in Southern Utah a lot, and we had the opportunity to have it up here."

It was a decent drive for most teams. On the boys' side, six of the eight schools had to travel at least 100 miles, and one of the two that didn't was Juan Diego, which is 99.4 miles away, according to Google maps. It was similar on the girls' side, where Juan Diego and Morgan (74.1 miles) were the only two schools within 100 miles of the Spectrum.

"You know, I think they're used to traveling," Bishop said about 3A teams and fans. "They understand that some years it's going to be up here, some years it's going to be down there. We have a lot of events in St. George and, boy, the St. George people were great."