This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Orem • The Layton Christian boys basketball team responded to a stiff challenge from San Juan by outscoring the Broncos 27-12 in the fourth quarter to race to an 81-63 victory in the first round of the 2A state tournament Saturday afternoon at Orem High School.

The Eagles hit the court smoking hot and built a 13-2 advantage in the first two minutes of the contest, but San Juan regrouped and worked the deficit down to just three points by period's end.

The middle quarters were a toe-to-toe, back-and-forth battle with multiple ties and lead changes.

One play in the first minute of the final stanza became the turning point of the game.

Sophomore guard Jesus Tomasi made a steal on the San Juan end and fed the ball forward to senior Chan Hargraves for a fast-break layup.

There was a foul on the play by junior Dylan Ivins, the point guard for the Broncos and a key player throughout the contest. It was his fourth so he went to the bench, and Hargraves made the foul shot to put Layton Christian ahead by six points.

The Eagles quickly surged to a double-digit margin and never looked back.

Senior forward Christians Gutierrez punctuated the win with a game-high 21 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals.

"We've been practicing in the mornings and afternoons and even some nights to prepare for this game," Gutierrez said. "Some people were predicting we would lose in the first round, and we wanted to prove them wrong."

Each team lost a key player to injury when they collided in the game's opening moments, but the Eagles overcame the loss with the right chemistry.

"We believed in ourselves, and Coach always pushes us to the next level," Gutierrez said

Layton Christian also got a spark off the bench from Tomasi, who scored 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting with four assists and four steals. His defense gave San Juan fits whenever he was on the court.

"My job is just to push my team to my last drop of sweat," Tomasi said. "We don't have to be selfish, we just do whatever it takes to help the team. On defense I just try to get steals to help us win."

For LCA coach Bobby Porter, the final spurt came down to making necessary substitutions.

"We put in players who were more athletic and increased our length," he said. "We got our hands on a lot of balls."

Porter also gave credit to San Juan for being well prepared and well coached but was pleased his team was able to overcome its own adversities.

"We call this part of the year mothball time," he said. "If you don't win, your uniform goes into mothballs. We wanted to make sure that didn't happen today." —

Layton Chr. 81, San Juan 63

R Layton Christian (13-10) will face Region 13 champ South Sevier (18-5) in the quarterfinals at 11:10 a.m. Thursday at the Sevier Valley Center.

• San Juan point guard Dylan Ivins had 12 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals. Senior guard Jordan Blake added a team-high 17 points.

• Forward Chan Hargraves had 12 points and seven boards for the Eagles.