The Tooele boys basketball team will look to double its win total for the season when it travels to Ogden on Friday and hosts Grantsville on Wednesday.

The Buffs are 2-5 on the year as they prepare to face two familiar Region 11 foes this week. Tooele will battle four of its former region opponents this season as it gears up for the daunting task of playing a regular season against the powerful 4A teams of Region 7.

Already, Tooele has defeated former region opponent Ben Lomond and dropped a close game, 78-74, to Bear River. Tooele coach Ray Brazier said his team played its best game of the season against a powerful Bear River team which ranks among the top five teams in the 3A classification.

"Bear River has a big and athletic team. We're athletic, but not very big. It was our best game of the season. We hung with them the entire game with the lead changing hands several times throughout the game," Brazier said.

On Friday the Buffs had their hands full again when they traveled to West to challenge the Panthers. West is predicted to be in the chase for the Region 6 title.

"West came out and pressured us really hard from the start. We weren't getting any good looks at the basket and they were in control," the coach said. "This is one of the better West teams I have seen since I've been in Utah."

Tooele hung with the Panthers during the first half, but West exploded for 29 points in the third period to bury the Buffs 52-33 after three quarters.

Brazier said he was encouraged by the way his team played in the fourth quarter.

"We came out in the fourth quarter and played like we had played against Bear River," he said. Tooele outscored West 21-17 in the final stanza.

"The way we played in the fourth quarter against West and the way we played against Bear River -- that's the type of team we need to be. We want to build on that last quarter against West," Brazier said. "In that final quarter we were playing our game -- getting easy steals and easy baskets."

The coach said he likes the attitude of his team.

"I sense they're taking a lot of pride in the way they play the game. They like to fight hard and don't give up which makes coaching them much easier," Brazier said.

Tanner Stuart led the way in scoring against West with 21 points which included three three-pointers. Matt Wihongi added seven points, Jordan Biorge six with Eric Gutowski and Derrick Anderson providing five each.

Against West, Stuart also led the Buffs with a season-high nine deflections. Boone Baird had six deflections with Wihongi, Anderson and Matt Trussell each recording five deflections.

Tooele is shooting a high percentage when they're able to find their shots. Against West the team shot 50 percent and 46 percent from the three-point line.

For the season, five players are shooting above 45 percent. Anderson is connecting on 48 percent of his shots while Stuart is hovering around 45 percent. Trussell and Chase Banks are hitting 45 percent and Wihongi sinking 42 percent.

Stuart and Wihongi are scoring about 14 points per game to lead the team. Baird is averaging seven points per game and Anderson five.

Tooele could easily inch its way toward the .500 mark for the season after the two games this week. Ogden and Grantsville have combined for only two wins on the season while giving up 17 losses. Both teams have won one game. Ogden downed 1A St. Joseph and Grantsville defeated 2A Rowland Hall St. Marks.

Mark Watson: mwatson@tooeletranscript.com