By Catherine Garrett | [email protected]

The Corner Canyon boys basketball team lost to eventual state champion Davis 63-54 in the 6A state semifinals March 4 at Salt Lake Community College, marking the fourth final four appearance in head coach Dan Lunt’s five years heading up the program.

“Every year the goal is to win state and so when you come up short, you feel you short-changed yourselves,” Lunt said. “But when you have some time to step back, you realize what a great year you did have.”

“It’s not exactly how we wanted the season to end, but not many teams get to say they made it to a final four,” senior Trace Ross said.

The 18-7 squad went in to the state tournament as the third seed earning a first-round bye. 

In the second round, the Chargers defeated Herriman 72-58, stretching a three-point halftime advantage to a 14-point win. Corner Canyon was led by Ross with 24 points, Carter Welling with a double-double of 18 points and 14 rebounds and Peyton Call scoring 12 points with Max Toombs adding 11.

In the quarterfinals against Skyridge, the Chargers came back from being down five at halftime—holding the Falcons to 17 second-half points—to win 56-53. Ross was again the leading scorer with 14 points with Call adding 13, Welling 12 and Tate Staley 11.

In the semifinal matchup with Davis, Corner Canyon turned an early deficit into a four point lead at the break. The game was tight throughout the second half and went to overtime where the Darts outscored CCHS 14 to five to win by nine. Toombs and Call combined for 37 points to lead offensively.

“This year certainly felt different especially with the amount of fans, but the region games got more intense as the crowds got bigger and at SLCC we had a really good student section cheering for us,” Ross said. 

Corner Canyon was led in scoring this season by Ross with 21 points a game and Welling —who signed with University of California Irvine where his brother Hayden is playing—averaged 17 points and nine boards. 

“The kids did a great job overall with attitudes of being able to come and do what we asked them to do in rallying around the common goal,” Lunt said. “The journey is the fun part and allows you to see where you started and where you got to.”

Also on the CCHS squad this season were Tyler Burraston, Phil Harris, Taylor Harris, Sam Jex, Brody Kozlowski, Kallen Lewis, Ty Neibaur, Jaxon Roberts and Everest Romney.

Girls

The girls squad went into the state tournament as the 12th seed and defeated Cyprus 55-28 in the first round. Corner Canyon went up 26-10 in the first half and poured on 29 more points in the second led by Elina Mortensen with 12 points and eight rebounds and Baylee Bodily with 11.

In the second round, the Chargers lost to Syracuse 61-50, staying with the Titans for three quarters until they gave up 25 points in the final eight minutes. Natalie Newton put in four 3-pointers and led with 16 points in the season-ending loss.

“The freshman and sophomore varsity group were amazing,” head coach Gianni Ellefson said, noting that they have a chance to be state title contenders in the next couple of years.

Mortensen averaged 12 points a game to lead Corner Canyon in scoring while Newton added 11.

Also playing for CCHS this season were Brielle Bodily, Isabel Crofts, Lily Crofts, Lizzie Gordon, Clara Hazar, Summer Larson, Caitlin Madsen, Cara Pinkston, Maize Purser, Hannah Shinall, Maddie White and Brook Yeomans.