WEST VALLEY CITY—The Gunnison boys’ basketball team lost a thriller up north last week.
The Bulldogs, now 2-2 on the season overall, were on the less fortunate end of a game of runs as they fell to APA-West Valley on the road, 67-56, last Wednesday. The loss was Gunnison’s second-straight in the season after opening 2-0 in November.
Junior Jon Willden led the Bulldogs with 15 points, including three 3-pointers. Senior Jack Hansen also had 15 points, while senior Myles Bartholomew chipped in 10 points. The Bulldogs combined to make seven 3-pointers, tying their highest number made in a game this season after they made seven of them against Green River.
Like a pendulum swinging back and forth, both teams seemed to only score in bunches, and the Eagles had the first of them as they began the game on a 7-0 run in the first four minutes. The run was broken by a wild 3-pointer made by Willden, which commenced a singlehanded 10-0 run by the junior guard to take the lead and continued in a 15-0 run for a 15-7 lead before the Eagles broke the run just before the end of the first quarter.
APA-WV got the lead back with a solid second quarter and led, 30-26, at halftime.
After the half, Gunnison got back to work, this time working the post and going on an 8-0 run to go up 34-30, but after that, the Eagles took control the rest of the way enroute to victory.
The Bulldogs still have a long way to go before they begin region play. They’ll have a five-game stretch at home leading up to their first region game, starting with this week’s Wednesday matchup with 1A Piute and this Friday against Kanab.
