First Lehi Froggie Boys' Win at Home

Timp Sports Weekly

February 26, 2013

Publisher's Message

For this week's issue, we look at the Lehi Pioneers, AKA the Froggies, winning their first boys' basketball game at home at the expense of the Riverton Silverwolves, AKA Silverpups. The game, by the way, was Lehi's contest of the Froggies' basketball season. As they say in Lehi, let's swim straight to that story.

Dean Von Memmott

Publisher

magnanovelist@gmail.com

Lehi Froggies Finish Boys' Basketball Season With First Home Win Feb. 19

By Dean Von Memmott

Timp Sports Weekly Publisher

AKA the Froggies, the Lehi Pioneers finally had something to croak about on the night  of Feb. 19. After having endure an entire season of not winning at home, the Lehi boys' basketball team finished their Region Four schedule by leaping past the Riverton Silverwolves, AKA the Silverpups, 75-59 on the Froggies' home court.

The triumph came too late to keep alive Lehi's hopes of state tournament play this year. The Froggies are going to have to wait until next season for a chance to hop to the playoffs.

Ryan Johnson gave the Froggies the jolt they needed to jump far ahead of the Silverpups. That Frogger swished in two treys to give Lehi an early 6-2 lead. Stephan "Wolf" Holm and Dicky Worsham attempted to get up their Silverpups to howl ahead of Lehi. After Holm had put the Silverpups on the board, Worsham produced a three-point play that cut the Froggie lead down to 7-5. Before Riverton could tie the score, Blake Cleveringa hit an inside shot that sparked a  6-2 scoring run for the Froggies as they kept Silverpup Weston Rindlisbacher from doing any damage from inside the key.

Their 13-7 lead gave their fans something to be happy -- correction, hoppy about. The Froggies declined to let up.  While Johnson and Cleveringa took control of Lehi scoring, Jordann Peck, a "distant cousin" of late movie actor Gregory Peck, pulled down two defensive rebounds that denied Riverton chances for catching up with the Froggies.

After Johnson and Peck had improved the Froggie lead at 22-13 late in the first period, Holm hit a trey that opened a 7-0 scoring run that spilled over into the second straight quarter. Tevita Loumanu scored four straight unanswered points that put the Silverpups within 22-20 early in the second quarter.

Before the Silverpups could tie the game, a cold spell beset them. A stubborn Froggie defense made them miss lots of shots, which Peck, Tanner Pittard, Frankie  "That's All Right" Jackson, and Cleveringa took turns rebounding. Lehi held Riverton to six points during the second quarter. The Silverpups never recovered from that period.

Meanwhile, Cleveringa became really hot in scoring. Cleveringa's nailing treys and inside jumpers helped the Lehi lead zip past the 10-point mark. Pittard contributed two straight layups to Lehi's shooting spree. By the end of the first half, the Froggies' commanded a 37-24 lead.

"In our league, a team can come back from a double-digit deficit to," said Lehi Coach Bobby Barnes. "In the second half, we didn't let up in our defense. We settled down and got done what we needed to do to keep Holm, Riverton's best scorer, from getting hot. He had to work for every bucket he made."

In the third quarter, Cleveringa and Pittard guided the Froggies in outscoring the Silverpups 19-15 to build up a 56-39 lead. Even though Holm guided the Silverpups in outscoring the Froggies 20-19 in the final period, Riverton couldn't overcome the double-digit deficit.

Cleveringa led the Froggies with 26 points while Pittard added another 12 and Peck 11. Holm led the Silverpups with 14 points while Loumanu added another 13..