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Ogden • Travis Wagstaff stepped to the free-throw line with a two-point lead.
Olympus, once down 25 points against Corner Canyon in Friday's Class 4A boys' basketball semifinals at Weber State University, was in position to ice the game.
Wagstaff was in a walking boot hours earlier. Hobbled all week after cutting his foot on a piece of glass in celebration of the region championship, he's ignored the pain to help his teammates on the journey to defend their state title.
You can bet he didn't feel a thing when he made both shots, jumping toward the rafters with one arm raised after Olympus completed the remarkable comeback in a 76-72 win.
"What a great high school basketball game," Titans coach Matt Barnes said. "We thought we had them, and they fought right back. What a great game."
The Titans will face Springville at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in the state championship game.
"Oh man, that was the funnest game I've ever been in," Olympus guard Rylan Jones said. "It was incredible. Ups and downs — incredible."
Corner Canyon (17-8), which was one of two teams to beat Olympus (24-2) this season, shot 85.7 percent in the first quarter behind a balanced attack from Michael Scheffner (24 points), Hayden Welling (14 points), Zachary Wilson (12 points) and Ammon Jensen (11).
"We were reeling a little bit," Barnes said. "We kind of got out of our rhythm a little bit."
The Chargers' lead ballooned to 25 points early in the second quarter, but Olympus continued to chip away, eventually pulling within 10 points at halftime.
"It was like, 'We're not going to get this back in two minutes,'" Barnes said. "It's going to be a process. We got to keep battling."
The third quarter opened with a seven-point spurt in 42 seconds, highlighted by two steals by Jones, who finished with a team-high 21 points, along with six rebounds and six assists.
"Boom, boom, right back in the game," Barnes said about the sequence to start the third.
Matt Lindsey (15 points) and Jeremy Dowdell (14 points) also reached double figures for the Titans, who captured their first lead, 52-50, in the third quarter.
"We trust each other," Jones said. "We came over to the sides and said, 'Calm down, we got this. We can come back and win this thing.'"
The Chargers never went away, eventually scoring four quick points to tie the score at 72-72 with 21 seconds left before Lindsey threw a perfect pass to Harrison Creer, who broke on a back door from half-court for a wide open layup, which proved to be the game-winner before Wagstaff's free throws.
"So many people care about Olympus basketball," Barnes said. "It was so fun to win last year, but I haven't wore my ring one time. As proud as I am, it's starting all over."
Twitter: @trevorphibbs —
Olympus 76, Corner Canyon 72
R Rylan Jones scores 21 points to lead the Titans back the state title game, where they will try to defend their crown against Springville.
• The Titans only commit five turnovers in the game.
• Corner Canyon shoots 52.9 percent (9 of 17) on 3-pointers.