By Steve Pimper
MaxPreps.com
The final curtain dropped on the 2007-2008 Utah basketball season Saturday with a double-header at Weber State University.
The double dip of 4A/5A championship games also produced back-to-back titles for two Utah County squads, the Provo Bulldogs and the Lone Peak Knights.
Both squads entered the six days of tournament action as the No. 1 teams in their respective classifications and each left with another gold trophy.
For 4A champion Provo, the word "dynasty" is already a fact in the Utah history books as its 45-42 triumph over Bountiful marked the 17th state title for the basketball power nestled in the shadows of the Brigham Young University campus.
The title was also the eighth for head coach Craig Drury, the most for any Beehive State head coach.
Provo brought home its record-breaking title with a fourth quarter defensive effort that put the clamps on the Braves with a smothering man-to-man blanket that pushed big 6-foot-10 Ben Aird away from the hoop and double and triple-teamed him while controlling the boards at both ends of the court.
The ultimate result was that the Braves could score only two points in the first 5:30 of the final period while Provo built a hard-fought, six-point advantage behind the inside play of Brandon Davies and tournament MVP Kyle Collinsworth.
Provo then sealed the victory as Kyson Koop went 4-of-4 from the charity stripe in the final minute to secure the win and second-straight championship for the Bulldogs.
Joining Collinsworth and Davies on the All-Tournament team was teammate Adam Law. Bountiful placed two players on the elite squad as leading tournament scorer, Aird, (21.3 points per game) and Sean Carey earned the nod.
In the 5A finale, the nationally-ranked Lone Peak Knights used an 8-0 second quarter run to break open a tight game en route to a comfortable 67-53 win over the Bingham High Miners.
For the second-straight year, Knight junior Tyler Haws was named the tournament's MVP as he averaged 19 points per game to go along with his team-leading assists and steals totals. Haws has emerged as one of the most sought after recruits in state history and will return again next year to attempt the three-peat.
Two other Knights, Bracken Funk and Justin Hamilton, were also selected to the All-Tournament squad along with a pair of underclassmen from Bingham, super sophomore Ben Clifford and junior forward Remington Peck.
Lone Peak finishes the season with a 23-2 mark following a 24-1 championship campaign in 2007. The only in-state loss for Lone Peak came in the season opener against 4A champion Provo.
One other championship game was also played in Utah Saturday as MVP Tim Hughes of Escalante High School scored a team high 15 points to lead his Moquis squad past Piute 48-42 in the 1A finale in Richfield. It was the second title in the past three years for the Moquis.
