Olympus Titans win Utah basketball 5A state championship, beating Bountiful 53-46

The Titans beat Bountiful 53-46.

During his three decades at Olympus High, head coach Matt Barnes has made one thing synonymous with his boys’ basketball program: “The Titan Triple,” utilizing the 3-point shot to reign over the state of Utah.

On Friday night, Olympus saw a different type of Titan triple: a three-peat of Utah 5A state titles, as Olympus won a close battle over Bountiful 53-46.

“People always ask me, ‘What’s your favorite one?’ They all have special meaning,” Barnes said, “but this one, to come back to win three in a row … it’s pretty awesome.”

Olympus only led by one with a minute and a half left in the contest. The whole game was back and forth, so coming down to the final possessions was fitting.

After a timeout, the Titans inbounded the ball to Gavin Lowe, Utah’s reigning Mr. Basketball. He dumped it off to BYU linebacker commit Adam Bywater at the elbow, who then immediately passed it to 6-foot-9 Davian Lazarus, who caught the ball over his smaller defender and put it in to extend the lead to three.

Bountiful couldn’t come back from the 3-point deficit. The Lazarus shot ended up being the difference maker.

Barnes said that the pivotal moment was a broken play, and not what they drew up in the timeout.

“It was a huge play that was all on them,” Barnes said. “They improvised, but that’s how we have to play. Everyone keys in so much on Gavin. They help and rotate, so we have to feel those big plays.”

Lowe, whose 16 points and 4-of-18 shooting were poor by his Mr. Basketball standards, finished with four assists and kept the Redhawks’ defense on its toes. Lowe is so fast and shifty, and has such a big gravitational pull on the court, that even when Lowe wasn’t shooting, the Titans’ offense still had good looks.

In his senior season, Lowe averaged 25.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game. Between his impressive counting stats, the personal hardware and the three straight championship victories, the UC Irvine commit has one of the most impressive resumes in the history of Utah high school basketball.

“To get another one for [Barnes] feels great,” Lowe said. “He’ll win championships after me, but I’m glad I could be a part of three.”

“There’s a lot of pressure on him,” Barnes said about Lowe, “coming back this year with Mr. Basketball, and everyone wanted a piece of him. He backed it up pretty good.”

For Bountiful, the loss marked the end of an impressive season for Lincoln Smith, the Redhawks leading scorer during their 5A runner-up campaign.

The senior averaged 17.1 points per game on the season and dropped in a team-high 14 points during Friday night’s title game.

Eight-seeded Bountiful’s seven-point loss was the closest margin of victory that Olympus had all playoffs.

“I’ve been around a long time, 30 years or more coaching,” Barnes said, “and yeah, it’s great to win running away, but winning like that … it’s very special.”