Executing an offense in basketball is only half the battle, the other half is making your shots.

Tooele boys did a great job executing their offense Monday afternoon against Juan Diego. The only problem was that they couldn’t get their shots to fall like they normally do, falling to The Soaring Eagle 43-40 in the Cache Valley Electric Holiday Classic in Logan.

“I think today we executed our offense the best all season,” said Tooele head basketball coach Ray Brazier. “The only problem is that our shots weren’t falling, I don’t think we shot any better than 35 percent.”

Three Tooele players scored in double digits with Taylor Hunt leading the Buffaloes with 13. Tanner Stuart knocked in 11 and Boone Baird came alive in the fourth quarter, scoring seven of his 10 points in the final period. Tyler Bauman had a game-high 18 points for Juan Diego in the victory.

Hunt got the nod at the beginning of the game to earn the start and he took full advantage early. Working in the low post, Hunt was able score the first four Tooele points and help them jump out to an early 4-2 lead.

A balanced attack from Juan Diego in the first quarter had four different players scoring two points each and produced a lead of their own at 8-4. Hunt led all scorers in the first with six points and used a post moved to pull the Buffs within a point at 8-7 at the end of the first.

Baird nailed a 3-pointer a little less than two minutes into the second quarter that tied the game at 10-10. The bad news was that Tooele only hit one more shot the remaining 5:54 of the quarter.

“We missed seven lay-ups in the first half and 12 total in the game,” Brazier said.

The Soaring Eagle finished the quarter on a 10-2 run thanks to the inside post presence of Cody Johnson, who scored six points in the quarter to lead Juan Diego into the locker room with a 20-12 half-time lead.

Tooele came out in the second half and continued to execute their offense but this time they started hitting their shots. A Matt Trussell jumper on the right wing capped a 6-2 run to open the third and brought Tooele within 22-19.

Hunt again went to work for Tooele in the third quarter scoring from inside and out, with a 3-pointer and jumper near the basket. Tooele out-scored Juan Diego 12-8 in the quarter to head into the final period only trailing 28-24.

The fourth is when the key shots for Tooele really started dropping. Stuart and Baird each scored seven points in the quarter, with three 3-pointers combined between the two of them.

Baird was extremely clutch as he hit two 3-pointers in the final 1:02 of the game, the second bringing the Buffaloes within a point at 41-40 with 13 seconds remaining.

After Pablo Coro nailed both of his free throws with 11 seconds left to make the score 43-40, Tooele had one chance to tie the game.

Stuart took the inbounds pass and looked for a screen but passed up the final shot to Baird, who took the game-tying 3-pointer at the top of the arc. Baird’s shot hit the front of the rim as the final buzzer sounded.

Overall coach Brazier is pleased with his teams effort. “We keep getting better regardless of the win-loss record,” Brazier said.

On Tuesday morning Tooele lost 50-44 to 5A Timpanogas. Stuart won the hot-shot contest at the eight-team tournament.

Tooele will open Region 7 play on Jan. 9 at Orem at 7 p.m.

Jake Gordon: jgordon@tooeletranscript.com