November 30, 2010
Publisher's Message
For this week's issue, we look at two preseason boys' basketball games won by the Ferocious Pleasant Grove Vikings and the Awesome American Fork Cavemen at the recent Zuke Challenge, played Nov. 24 at Utah Valley University's McKay Events Center. In defeating the Orem Tigers, AKA the Tiggers, and the Springville Red Devils, AKA the Helltown Hellions, respectively, Pleasant Grove and American Fork have demonstrated that they could very well go extremely far in 5-A basketball this winter. Let's get to those stories.
Dean Von Memmott
Publisher
deanmemmott@hotmail.com
Ferocious PG Vikings Win Over Orem Leaves Tiggers Bounceless
By Dean Von Memmott
Timp Sports Weekly Publisher
The Ferocious Pleasant Grove Vikings opened their boys' basketball season by showing they could easily rob the Orem Tigers, AKA the Tiggers, of their bounce. In a Zuke Challenge game at Utah Valley University's McKay Events Center Nov. 24, the Ferocious Vikings flattened Orem 59-44.
Ferocious Viking Coach Randy McAllister said, "Orem hit us with a zone all through the game. Their doing that kept them close to us until we hit some transition buckets in the last couple of minutes of the first half to give us a 10-point lead. We made adjustments at halftime, and we handled their zone much better in the second half."
The game was not the first time that Golden Holt, the Tiggers' new coach, had dealt with the Ferocious Pleasant Grove Vikings. When he played basketball for the Bingham Miners, AKA the Pickers, in the 1970's, he had guided them to a 22-point win over the Ferocious Vikings in a state 3-A quarterfinal game. Unlike the Ferocious Viking team of 1974-75, Pleasant Grove's 2010-11 boys' basketball team quickly proved it was not going to be a squad of patsies for any team mentored by Holt, now a straight-haired blond, not the fluffy-haired one that he was during his Bingham days.
As soon as Ferocious Viking Forrest "Jump" Pinnock had gotten the opening tipoff, teammate Cade Wilkes received a pass and sank a jumper that sent Pleasant Grove rowing out to an early 7-1 lead. Wilkes' shooting and Alan "Tall Al" Hamson's rebounding enabled the Ferocious Vikings to lead by as far as 13-3 in the first period. Tricky Dalton Nixon's three-point play got the Tiggers to bounce within 13-7 at the end of the quarter.
Using a zone effectively on both sides of the court during the second period, the Tiggers gave the Ferocious Vikings a fright. Chris Clark and Josh Pollard guided the Tiggers in a 10-3 scoring run that almost sunk Pleasant Grove. When a Pollard set shot put Orem within 19-17 midway through the quarter, the Ferocious Vikings realized that they now faced a really strong prospect of the Tiggers bouncing ahead of them sometime before halftime. In the half's final four minutes, Cory McAlllister and Taylor "Needles" Allred came up with three-pointers that turned the tempo back to Pleasant Grove's favor. As soon as a Nixon three-pointer had put Orem within 24-20, McAllister and Allred each swished in a trey to give Pleasant Grove a 30-20 lead at the half.
Early in the second half, McAllister hit another trey to spark another long scoring run for Pleasant Grove, which held the Tiggers to two points in the third quarter's first five minutes. After a Hamson bucket had improved Pleasant Grove's lead at 35-20, Pollard hit an inside bucket in hopes of prodding the Tiggers of bouncing back into the game. However, rebounding by Hamson and Zach "Arctic" Faux kept the Tiggers from getting a rally going. Also, Faux scored on two straight steals that knocked the springs out of the Tiggers and gave Pleasant Grove a 41-22 lead. A Nixon bucket opened a 6-2 scoring run for Orem near the end of the third quarter. Afer Orem's Bandon "The Lucky" Erickson hit a foul shot, Pollard sank a trey to cut lead to 41-28. Allred produced a three-point play that sent Pleasant Grove cruising with a 44-28 lead into the final quarter.
Allred produced another three-point play in the fourth quarter, and a Hamson foul shot clutched the game early. That didn't stop the Tiggers from attempting to bounce back into the game. Nixon hit two straight treys to cut the lead to 57-35. That turned out to be the closest that Orem could get to Pleasant Grove in the half. Still, Tigger fans did have something to cheer about when their Brennan Adamson hit a late fourth-quarter trey and Dave Runyan, not to be confused with mythical logger Paul Bunyan, scored a layup on a steal.
Cory McAllister led the Ferocious Vikings with 13 points while Hamson added another 10. Nixon led the Tiggers with 11 points while Pollard contributed another 10. Hamson led Pleasant Grove with five rebounds.
Awesome American Fork Cavemen Exorcise Springville Red Devils 68-51
By Dean Von Memmott
Timp Sports Weekly Publisher
The Awesome American Fork Cavemen opened their boys' basketball season by exorcising the Springville Red Devil, AKA the Helltown Hellions, 68-51.
Not once at any time during the game could the Hellions take possession of the lead. Those Hellions' fate got determined early on. As soon as American Fork's Nate "The Peak" Ensign got the tipoff, he passed to Quincy Bair, son of Dalton Bair, for an easy layup. Two Mikey Wells treys created an 8-0 lead for the Awesome Cavemen. Springville's Nate "Brimstone" Israelson hit a three-point shot that sent the Hellion burning back into the game. During the ensuing 9-3 scoring run, Israelson and Jackson "Speed Demon" Ogiles produced shots that gave the Cavemen a brief scare. When an Ogiles field goal cut American Fork's lead to 11-9, the Hellions seemed certain of either catching up with the Awesome Cavemen or passing them. However, two straight bad Springville passes permitted American Fork to take its two-point lead with it into the second quarter.
Early in the second quarter, Marcel Davis passed to Bair for a baseline shot. Soon afterwards, Bair stuffed a shot that pretty much decided the game's outcome in the long run. After a Davis shot had ended American Fork's 6-0 scoring run in the early second quarter, Israelson sank an inside shots. The Hellions suddenly couldn't but say, "Oops!" when they saw Austin "Shagadelic" Whaddoups score five straight unanswered points through a steal and a three-point play. Whaddoups efforts produced a 21-11 lead for the Awesome Cavemen. Shots from Davis and Alex Bair, a "distant" cousin of the famous Betsy Ross, kept American Fork up by 10 for much of the first half's final four minutes. Neal "Hell-Raiser" Gardener and Matt "The Tasmanian Devil" Sumsion's free throw shooting guided the Hellions within 26-21 by halftime.
In the second half's opening minutes, Davis became really hot everywhere inside the perimeter. Davis' shooting paced a 12-5 scoring for the Awesome Cavemen. Sumsion tried to do some serious damage to American Fork when he guided his Hellions within 30-26. When a Kaden McMurtrey layup had improved American Fork's lead at 36-26, the game started getting away from the Hellions. Bair sank two second shots and nailed two foul shots in the third quarter to keep the Awesome Caveman lead in double figures. Also, Whaddoups and Wells produced steals that cooled the Red Devils' comeback efforts.
Through much of the fourth quarter, the Cavemen stayed up by more than 10 points. Midway through that period, McKay "Pandemonium" Murphy hit a trey that put the Red Devils within 49-41. Whaddoups and Wells soon sunk layups that enabled the Awesome Cavemen to stay more than 10 points ahead for the rest of the game, which ended with a Sumsion three-point shot.
"It was great to start this season with a win, especially over a good team like Springvile," Ensign said outside the Awesome Cavemen's locker room."
Holding his award for being named the game's MVP, Davis said, "We just did a good job in running the fastbreak against Springivlle. Matt Sumsion was a big challenge for us. We did a good jog of fronting him with our poasts."
American Fork Coach Doug Mecham said, "We did a good job in how we went up a good team like Springville. {Chris] Kitchen does a good job in getting the most out of his players. We did a great job in controlling the boards against their bigs. We pulled some big defensive rebounds that kept the game in our favor. When we play good like we did this afernoon, we can hold our own against any team. We're going to be playing Taylorsville at West Jordan Dec. 3."
Bair led American Fork with eight rebounds while Davis contributed six and Ensign five. Also American Fork's top scorer, Bair posted 17 points while Wells and Waddoups each posted 11 and Davis 10. Sumsion and Israelson led the Hellions with 11 points each while Murphy added another seven.
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