Brown, Van Komen power Pleasant Grove to 57-42 victory over Copper Hills in 6A semi


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SALT LAKE CITY — Despite a brief surge from Copper Hills late, the Pleasant Grove Vikings defeated the Grizzlies 57-42 behind a combined 42 points from Casey Brown and Matt Van Komen on 18-of-25 shooting.

“I’m so proud of my guys,” Pleasant Grove coach Randy McAllister said after the game. “They’re playing the best they’ve played all year, they’re playing such good ball right now. … I’m just so proud of them.”

With all eyes on the matchup between Pleasant Grove’s Van Komen and Copper Hills' Treyvon Allfrey, it was the Vikings’ 7-foot-3 string bean that dominated early on inside what may be his future home — the Huntsman Center. Van Komen, who is currently deciding between scholarship offers from Utah and Gonzaga, played like a man among boys.

Early on, Van Komen touch-passed out of the post to Brown on the right wing to give the Grizzlies an 11-8 lead late in the first quarter.

Later, Kael Mikkelson (five points, six rebounds) hit a top-of-the-circle three before Casey Brown hit a running layup to cap an 8-0 run and extend the Vikings’ lead to eight, 21-13, with 5:06 remaining in the second quarter.

Van Komen hit feathery hook shots with either hand to extend the Vikings' lead to 25-13, its largest lead of the first half, before carrying a 27-18 advantage into halftime.

With Van Komen brooding around the rim, the Grizzlies were often forced to settle for heavily contested shots inside — which could not be mitigated by their 3-point shooting and was compounded by the non-impact of Allfrey.

“We did a great job on Allfrey in the first half,” McAllister said. “For the most part, we executed our game plan very well.”

Coming out of halftime, Van Komen caught a lob and dunked to give his Vikings another double-digit lead, 29-18. After Van Komen split a pair of free throws, the Vikings' lead extended to 13 points, 33-20, with five minutes left in the third quarter.

Allfrey closed the third quarter with eight straight points, which included consecutive threes before Jake Jensen (five points, two rebounds) splashed another to bring the Grizzlies back to 37-31 at the end of the third quarter.

But from that point, the margin would come no closer than nine, as the Vikings — on the back of Brown’s late-game heroics, which earned a raucous “Casey” chant from the student section — outscored the Grizzlies 20-11 in the final frame.

“It means a lot,” Brown said of the chorus of cheers. “Those are a ton of my friends, and we have the greatest support. I’m so happy that they came and supported me, and I’m super glad we pulled out the win.”

The 6-foot-7 Allfrey led all Grizzly scorers with 15 points on 3-of-4 shooting from three, while being limited to just a single rebound.

Advancing to the first-ever 6A title game in history, Pleasant Grove will face Lone Peak Saturday at 1 p.m. MST at the Huntsman Center.

Referencing the championship game, Brown added, “We’re super excited, but we know we’re not satisfied. Second place is not what we want.” Dillon Anderson is studying literary journalism as a student at the University of Utah. You can follow him on Twitter @DillonDanderson.

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