The Pine View Panthers came tearing into Wednesday's game with four straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 13.8 points) and they left with even more momentum. They ended the year with a bang, routing Cyprus 69-49. Given Pine View's advantage in MaxPreps' Utah basketball rankings (they are ranked 17th, while Cyprus is ranked 100th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Pine View had a senior duo take command as Griffen Shepherd scored 22 points along with six rebounds and Nash Schroeder scored 17 points along with eight rebounds and five assists. The contest was Shepherd's 11th in a row with at least ten points. Adam Moore was another key contributor, scoring 11 points.
Despite the defeat, Cyprus saw an underclassman step up: Beckham Bayles scored 22 points. Bayles scored a full 44.9% of Cyprus' points, the third time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Koli Fosita, who scored 15 points.
Pine View is on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven matches, which provided a nice bump to their 8-3 record this season. As for Cyprus, they have fallen quite a ways from their 24-4 record last season and are now at 1-7.
Pine View won't have much time to rest: their next contest is against Elko at 3:30 p.m. on December 28, 2023. Cyprus won't have much time to rest: their next contest is against Westlake at 3:30 p.m. on December 28, 2023. Westlake knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with flashy point totals in its past three matches -- so hopefully Cyprus likes a good challenge.
