Hodson Cancer Classic basketball tourney brings 18 teams to Canyon View High

Canyon View girls vs. Ogden, Steve Hodson Cancer Classic basketball tournament, Cedar City, Utah, Dec. 28, 2021 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

CEDAR CITY — The 13th annual Steve Hodson Cancer Classic basketball tournament attracted 18 high school teams to Canyon View High School for three days this week.

As of Wednesday night, three girls teams and three boys teams were still undefeated in varsity action, having had gone 2-0 over the first two days. The unbeaten girls teams were Parowan, South Sevier and Westlake, while the 2-0 boys teams were Hurricane, Millard and Grantsville.

The popular invitational tournament, which wraps up on Thursday, is staged in memory of Steve Hodson, a former basketball coach at Canyon View, Cedar High and Southern Utah University who died in 2008 after battling cancer for eight years. Proceeds from the sale of admission tickets and other donations go toward financially helping selected individuals in the community who are battling cancer and their families.

This year, two recipients have been selected as the beneficiaries of the fundraising efforts:

  • Gloria Truman, a Cedar High graduate who has been battling breast cancer since January of 2020. Gloria and her husband, Jeremy,  have three children.
  • Bob Tate, the former parks and recreation director for Cedar City who was also involved with the Utah Summer Games for many years, battled lung cancer for more than two years before finding out in October 2021 that he also has a brain tumor. He and his wife, MaryAnn, have six children and 17 grandchildren.

To see tournament programs, schedules, team rosters and recipient bios, click here for Google Drive link.

In addition to the 16 schools listed in the varsity schedules below, two other schools are participating at the subvarsity level: the Dixie High and Lincoln County, Nevada girls teams.

One of the more exciting girls varsity games on Tuesday featured host team Canyon View against the Ogden Tigers. Canyon View jumped out to an 8-2 lead early on, only to see the Tigers go on a 23-2 run and take a 25-10 lead with one minute left before halftime.

Canyon View girls vs. Ogden, Steve Hodson Cancer Classic basketball tournament, Cedar City, Utah, Dec. 28, 2021 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

As the final seconds of the second quarter ticked away, Ogden guard Mahine Bergeson drained a 3-pointer to put the Tigers up 28-14, but Canyon View’s Jaden Johnson took the inbounds pass with less than two seconds left and swished a shot from several feet behind the halfcourt line that cut Ogden’s lead to 11 points at halftime, 28-17.

Ogden then stayed about 10 points ahead throughout the third, taking a 38-28 lead at the end of the period. It was only at around the halfway mark of the fourth quarter that Canyon View began making a meaningful run at chipping away at the deficit.

The Falcons finally regained the lead when they made a basket to go up 44-43 with just over two minutes remaining. The lead then changed hands a couple more times, with Ogden going ahead 47-46 with less than one minute left.

That set the stage for an inbounds play that ended with Johnson hitting a baseline shot to give Canyon View a 48-47 lead with about 10 seconds remaining.

Ogden drove the ball downcourt but mishandled a pass that went out of bounds, giving the Falcons back the ball with just over three seconds left. Freshman Maylee Spencer then swished a pair of free throws to ice the game and give Canyon View the three-point win.

Johnson led Canyon View with 11 points, while Harlee Nicoll and Spencer added nine each.

Meanwhile, Bergeson led the Tigers with 14 points, 12 of them coming in the first half.

Steve Hodson Cancer Classic

Canyon View High School

Tuesday’s girls scores

  • Parowan 53, Hurricane 41.
  • South Sevier 52, Payson 39.
  • Westlake 54, Grantsville 35.
  • Canyon View 50, Ogden 47.

Tuesday’s boys scores

  • Hurricane 55, South Sevier 37.
  • Millard 59, Emery 57.
  • Grantsville 64, Parowan 52.
  • San Juan 61, Canyon View 55.

Wednesday’s girls scores

  • South Sevier 39, Hurricane 36.
  • Westlake 81, Payson 34.
  • Parowan 60, Ogden 53.
  • Grantsville 51, Canyon View 34.

Wednesday’s boys scores

  • Millard 57, South Sevier 55.
  • Parowan 55, Emery 48.
  • Hurricane 45, San Juan 44.
  • Grantsville 58, Canyon View 46.

Thursday’s girls scores

  • Grantsville 76, Parowan 49.
  • Hurricane 45, Ogden 44.
  • Westlake 67, South Sevier 34.
  • Canyon View vs. Payson (game cancelled due to illness).

Thursday’s boys scores

  • San Juan 62, Grantsville 48.
  • South Sevier 64, Emery 54.
  • Hurricane 55, Parowan 47.
  • Millard 72, Canyon View 63.

Updated Dec. 31, 3 p.m. to include the scores of Thursday’s games. All of the teams that went 2-0 over the first two days of the tournament won again on Thursday, except for the Grantsville boys, who fell to San Juan, 62-48.

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