BOUNTIFUL — The pre-season is a learning process. This is what Bountiful coach Mike Maxwell said Tuesday night after his team squander a five point lead in the final quarter of its game with Judge Memorial en route to a 46-42 loss.

“This is what the pre-season is all about,” Maxwell said. “Learning. Of course it’s nicer to learn and win, but we are in a learning process.”

The Braves trailed 11-9 after the quarter and enjoyed a 19-19 tie at the halftime break. Bountiful outscored Judge in the third and when Travis Parrish found Jeff Moncur for a shot, it looked like the Braves might pull away.

With three minutes to play, Judge led 38-36 and Bountiful called time out. After the time out, Christian Taylor found Sean Carey for a slam to knot the game for the last time. Judge pulled away in the final moments of the game hitting on its free throw opportunities.

“One of the things we need to understand as a team, especially in a close game, is that the ball needs to go through Sean (Carey),” Maxwell said. “Christian did a great job with the feed to Sean out of time out. The team just needs to understand we need to get the ball in Sean’s hands.”

Another area Maxwell saw as a concern was understanding when and when not to dribble.

“We have to use the dribble when it’s there and know when to pass the ball around in other times,” he said. “We played a team that was a slow tempo and we have to figure out how to push tempo when we get into this kind of situation.”

Although in defeat, Maxwell did see signs of promise.

“There were times in the game when we looked good. When we were playing the way we should play, but we can’t shoot 35 percent and expect to win.”

Bountiful also had trouble with the assist-to-ratio area coughing up the ball 15 times as compared to just 12 assists.

“We can’t be behind in the turnover-ratio area of the game,” Maxwell said. “We have to do a better job of taking care of the ball.

“I have confidence in this team. I know they will do what’s needed for us to get better. It’s a process and we’ll get back after it at practice.”

The Braves were led by Carey’s 12 points while Chris Maxwell and Parrish finished with eight each. Taylor had seven points, four assists and a steal to go with Jeff Moncur’s four steals and three assists.

For Judge, Centerville resident Zack Myar finished with four assists and a steal and Bountiful player Mark Carman had one steal.

sschulte@davisclipper.com