by Stephen Vincent-the Spectrum

ST. GEORGE - Every night after practice, four Hurricane boys basketball players - Gordie Dotson, Jase Langston, Ryan Smith and Zach Sorenson  - stay at the gym practicing their shooting. have to make 15 from each spot on the floor, or else we’ll stay there all night until we do,” Dotson explained. “With football taking as long as it did, we haven’t had many so practices, so we had to dedicate ourselves and work ourselves extra hard. That’s why we’re there until 10 or 11 at night.”

All that hard work paid off Wednesday night in The Hangar, as the red-hot Tigers hit seven 3-pointers, but it was the Tigers’ last 3-pointer that was decisive in their 52-48 win over Dixie.

Hurricane was up by two with a minute left when it went into the four-corners passing game to run some clock. The Tigers swung the ball to Jase Langston who was left uncovered on the left baseline.

Langston, surprised to find himself unguarded, hesitated for a count before hitting the trey.

“I think they didn’t want to switch, so I ended up wide open in the corner, and I made it,” he said afterwards.

Langston’s 3-pointer came just in time, as Dixie’s Mike Sharp was exploiting a hole in the Tiger defense, which allowed Sharp to score driving lay-ups on three straight possessions late in the fourth. In all, Sharp scored 11 points in the final frame.

“I knew I could take my guy, so I took him to the rack,” Sharp said. “We knew what they were running defensively, but it wasn’t until the third or fourth quarter that we started taking it to them.”

But Langston’s 3-pointer ensured that the closest the Flyers could get was within three points.

After a sluggish start by both teams made it 6-4 for the Flyers after the first quarter, the Tigers took command with a big second quarter. The Tigers had seven different players score in the quarter, as they steadily pulled away to build a 19-14 halftime lead.

Langston opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer to put the Tigers up by eight points, but that lead vaporized in a hurry.

In three possessions, Dixie scored eight points on a jumper by Jed Harr and 3-pointers from Sharp and Gatchell.

Dotson answered with a 3-pointer of his own, but Gatchell hit another from beyond the arc. Hurricane rebuilt its lead to three points-only to have Jake Mills equalize with a 3-pointer.

The game seesawed from there until the Tigers got some cushion from two 3-point plays-one by Dotson, and the other from Corey Hinton. That lead held up, thanks to Langston’s 3-pointer and a rough foul-shooting night for the Flyers who were 2-of-11 from the line.

Hurricane was led in scoring by its four players who’ve been working on their scoring-Dotson had 13; Sorenson, 10; and Langston and Smith added nine and seven, respectively. The foursome also combined for all seven of the Tigers’ treys.

“They’re a good team,” said Sharp of the Tigers. “They shot the ball well-that’s what killed us.”

Sharp led all scorers with 18.