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West Valley City • Looking at the Herriman roster, the Bountiful boys' basketball team knew it would need its man in the middle to play his best.

Brock Yates was the star for the Braves, who bested the Mustangs 57-49 in a tightly fought Class 4A quarterfinal competition Wednesday afternoon at Maverik Center.

Yates led the team with 21 points and nine rebounds, and the undersized Mustangs couldn't do much to stop him. Even when Herriman put a double team on the 6-foot-6 forward, he passed out to find open teammates.

"In the second quarter, I finally got my legs," Yates said. "We knew I was gonna get double-teamed, so we set it up so it was easy to find a guy down the middle."

Only the five Bountiful starters managed to score, but the Braves really did damage on the free-throw line, going 21-for-26. Herriman kept scrapping — Bountiful's lead was slim throughout the game — but free throws kept it just out of their grasp, and the Braves only had five turnovers.

The Braves also worked in the paint for as many high-percentage shots as possible, ending with a 46 percent performance from the floor.

"We knew we could play inside on them — their biggest guy is 6-foot-4, 6-foot-5," coach Mike Maxwell said. "Why shoot jump shots on them? We wanted to get to the basket."

Herriman had only 14 points in the paint, but stayed competitive with sharp 3-point shooting. Tueni Lupeamanu led the team with 17 points, including three 3-pointers that Maxwell acknowledged surprised him. Jaden Rasmussen, who won the last game for the Mustangs with a 3-point buzzer-beater against Logan, had 12 points and three 3-pointers.

Even at the end, as Bountiful seemed to pull away, Herriman kept gunning. With a minute left, Rasmussen closed the lead to 55-49, but the Mustangs wouldn't score again.

kgoon@sltrib.com

Twitter: @kylegoon —

Bountiful clinches semifinal berth

Brock Yates leads the Braves with 21 points and nine rebounds.

Tueni Lupeamanu pours in 17 for the Mustangs in defeat