HURRICANE - This game was over. The bus was getting warmed up getting ready for the lengthy ride back to Garland. It wasn’t going to be nearly as long as the Bears played a great game and will advance to the quarterfinals Thursday at the E Center in West Valley on Thursday. Then the wheels fell off. The engine blew a rod. And the Bears comfortable 13-point lead late in the third quarter fell apart.

Hurricane called it their fifth and final defense. It was a full out press, calculated to expose one weakness that Bear River showed, a lack of ball handling skills. A bus load full of turnovers, missed shots and lack of execution caused the Bears to have a nightmare of a trip home as Hurricane scored 29 points in the final period to come back to win 62-61 in the first round of the 2009 3A playoffs held on the Tigers home court.

Taking nothing away from the Tigers and the tremendous effort it took to come back from so far down and to even take a 9-point lead late in the game before BR scored the last eight points before the clock expired, but certain decisions or even lack of decisions proved to be the demise of the Bears season more than the Tigers comeback.

Bear River only used one of their three timeouts during the collapse. They had a key player foul out, they lost control of their strategy that dominated Hurricane for three quarters. It was a bizzare feeling. It was like watching someone die when you just needed to give them oxygen or a band aid to stop the bleeding.  It wouldn’t take much, but nothing was done.

To Hurricane’s advantage, they didn’t seem to miss a shot, a free throw or make a mistake the final ten minutes of the game. They got major contibutions from multiple players, ending up with four players in double figures, which is very rare for this young, inexperienced team.

Megan Clyde led the TIger charge with 18 points. Said Hoyt scored a dozen, including 10 in the first half to keep Hurricane in the game. Taylor Steglich and freshman Carly Stratton each hit in double figures for the Tigers who now advance to play Judge Memorial Thursday evening.