After falling behind by two points, the Tooele Buffaloes scored eight straight points in the final 26 seconds of the third period to grab their biggest lead of the game at 45-39 in Tuesday night’s rivalry war against Stansbury.

The Buffaloes never trailed the rest of the contest, extended their lead to 10 points in the fourth, and held on to complete a two-game sweep this year against their new county rivals to the north with a 58-51 victory on their home floor.

“These types of games are what high school basketball is all about,” said Tooele coach Ray Brazier. “The atmosphere here tonight was fabulous with two schools cheering on their teams and both teams playing with a lot of intensity and passion.”

The THS gym was jam-packed with fans who showed up ready to cheer and taunt. The game on the court was also a battle with 13 lead changes in the first three quarters. Tooele led most of the first half, but couldn’t shake the Stallions who trailed by only four points at intermission and grabbed the two-point lead before Tooele’s flurry of scores in the final seconds of the third period.

Tooele honored seven seniors before the game and then the seven seniors put on a solid performance scoring 53 of Tooele’s 58 points for the game.

Four of the Tooele seniors scored in double figures with Jacob Holt tallying 13, Andy Grondahl 12, Travis Brady 11 and Paul Johnson 11.

Stansbury senior Taylor Hunt was right on his average with a game-high 15 points and three 3-pointers after not scoring in the first game between the two teams.

“I thought Taylor did a good job; they were on him and he didn’t get as many good looks as we would have liked. To his credit he didn’t force shots; he just wants the team to get the ball in the basket,” said Stansbury coach Ryan Harris. “I was happy overall with the way we played. I think we’re a better team than our record shows and I think Tooele is a much better team than their record shows.”

Stansbury’s other top gun, Reggie Roberts, scored 11 points with three 3-pointers including a half-court bomb just before the buzzer sounded to end the first quarter to tie the game at 12-12. Junior Ty Barton added 11 for the Stallions.

“We knew the key defensively would be to stop Taylor and Ty Barton inside and always be able to find Reggie Roberts; Reggie is such good shooter who’s going to knock down shots,” the Tooele coach said. “Offensively our focus was to attack the basket.”

Tooele led 34-29 midway through the third period and then momentum swung briefly to the Stallions’ side. Tooele was called for a technical foul and Roberts sank the two shots. The possession then went to the Stallions and Roberts immediately drilled a 3-pointer from two-feet behind of the 3-point line to tie the game at 34-34.

Holt buried a 3-pointer and Hunt countered with a 3-pointer of his own and the scored was still deadlocked at 37-37.

The Stallions grabbed their last lead of the game when Barton scored inside to give his team a 39-37 advantage with 1:08 left in the third quarter.

Tooele then closed out the third quarter with an 8-0 run with a 3-pointer from Levi Vernon to get things started. Grondahl then drove to the hoop, scored and was fouled and hit the free throw. The rally continued when Johnson swiped the ball and drove in to score and give the Buffaloes a six-point lead after three quarters.

The Stallions kept the pressure on, but could not get any closer than four points in the final period.

When Tooele went up by six points with only 1 minute remaining, they started to burn time off the clock. During the slow-down, Holt found a hole in the defense and drove in to score to put his team up 54-46. Then Grondahl scored a pair of free throws with under 30 seconds remaining and Tooele enjoyed its biggest lead at 10 points and began to celebrate.

After a 12-12 first quarter, the teams traded leads in the in the second quarter.

Barton scored the first basket of the second quarter to give the Stallions a 14-12 advantage followed by a 15-footer from Bunn to tie the game at 14-14. Tooele took the lead on a great feed from Johnson to Wade Memmott for a dunk. Hunt countered with a 3-pointer followed by a baseline jumper from Holt to make it 18-17 Tooele.

Roberts hit a 3-pointer to put Stansbury up by two, followed by a triple from Brady to put Tooele back in front 21-20. Grondahl sank a 3-pointer, and after a pair of made foul shots from Hunt, Grondhal hit a baseline jumper to give the Buffaloes a 26-22 advantage at intermission.

The Buffaloes will play Spanish Fork on Saturday with time to be determined in the first round of the 4A state tournament. The Buffs finished 4-8 in Region 6 while the Stallions finished 1-11.

Mark Watson: mwatson@tooeletranscript.com