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OREM — A lot of people would tag Bingham as favorites in the 5A boys basketball state tournament.
Which made head coach Jake Schroeder that much more nervous facing Viewmont, which knocked out last year's top-ranked team in the quarterfinals.
No worries, coach.
Yoeli Childs had 18 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots to lead the Miners in rout of the Vikings, 70-32, at the UCCU Center in the first round of the 5A state playoffs.
"I'm always scared to death," Schroeder said of the game. "I didn't know the score (in the fourth quarter), but with six minutes left, they hit a bucket and I got nervous. I've seen too many things."
Dason Youngblood added 12 points, three assists and four steals for Bingham (21-2).
Childs and the Bingham post helped calm the third-year head coach's nerves a bit, too. The BYU signee helped the Miners outscore the Vikings 30-8 in the paint as they grabbed a 38-23 rebounding edge. Viewmont (13-10) didn't hit a bucket from inside the 3-point arc until the 1:35 mark of the second quarter. By then, the Vikings already trailed 33-10.
"Everyone on our team is really long — even our one and two-guards are 6-2 and 6-3," Childs said. "We're a long team, and I don't think teams in Utah are used to that length when they're taking a shot."
Besides Childs and reserve post Branden Carlson, Schroeder also singled out Schyler Shoemaker, who defended the high post for Bingham.
"He's the glue defensively for us," Schroeder said. "He guards a lot of the guys, and just keeps them quiet. He's been a real good player for us."
The Miners held Viewmont without a field goal until Cole Huish drained a 3-pointer with 9 seconds left in the first quarter. The Vikings hit three shots from beyond the arc to just one from inside as Bingham built up a 35-13 halftime lead.
Huish led the Vikings with 18 points and three rebounds.
The Miners built up the early lead behind guards Youngblood and Lleyton Parker, who had seven and six points respectively in the opening stanza. Parker finished with six points and four assists.
Bingham 70, Viewmont 32
Viewmont 4 9 8 11 — 32
Bingham 19 16 21 14 — 70
VM: Barrett 3; Larsen 3; Huish 18; Stringham 6; Johnson 2. BIN: Childs 18; Avea 7; Parker 6; Youngblood 12; Shoemaker 7; Lokotui 8; Vickers 4; Atkin 4; Carlson 4.
American Fork 85, Fremont 54
Fremont 16 9 5 24 — 54
Am. Fork 10 23 22 30 — 85
FRE: Harrop 10; Calvert 4; James 11; Morby 2; Beus 13; Hadley 13; Hubbard 8; Wayment 4. AF: Condie 12; Whitehead 8; Judd 7; Brimhall 6; S. Johnson 27; Hucks 6; Reid 1; Rawson 2; Simpson 2; Crowther 3; I. Johnson 7; McWhorter 4.
"I think we were really well prepared for this game," Childs said. "Coach Schroeder does an amazing job of getting scouting reports; I've never seen a coach get that hard in getting us prepared to win. Viewmont's a scary team, especially in the first round.
"I'm glad we played the way we played."
AMERICAN FORK 85, FREMONT 54
At UVU, The Cavemen outscored Fremont 22-5 in the third quarter of a 5A boys basketball tournament first-round contest en route to an 85-54 win Tuesday night.
A close game in the first half, the Silver Wolves started the stronger of the two and opened a 16-8 lead. The Cavemen rattled off the next 11 points over the next four minutes, however, and began a torrid stretch of stifling defense, which continued after halftime.
"Really our defense kind of fed our offense this game," American Fork coach Doug Meacham said. "Our ball movement was pretty good and we had some wide-open shots. When you have some wide-open threes, that ball going through the net gets you going."
American Fork stretched its advantage to 25 by the end of the third quarter, and proceeded to conclude the game with its best offensive period — scoring 30 points in the final eight minutes.
"We just messed up on a few of our switches and we just needed to talk better," Meacham said of the eight-point game at halftime. "Sometimes we have some sophomores that are thrown into that lineup and they're talking like sophomores. Our seniors got after them and said, hey, if you're going to play we need you to communicate out here."
The Cavemen were without leading scorer Brendan Bailey for the first time this season.
"It's not next man up, it's next men up, and that's kind of what we talked about," Meacham said. "It can't be one guy, and that's where we can get into trouble is if one guy here thinks they got to get those 20 points and 10 rebounds, and I thought everyone did it collectively."
Spencer Johnson, who signed with Weber State, led all scorers with 27 points and had a game-high six rebounds to go with three assists.
"He's always been a consistent scorer for us," Meacham said of Johnson. "I thought that guys found him in spots and I thought he kind of let the ball find him a little bit. He's really good. He can make tough shots and he was shooting in rhythm."
American Fork advances to meet Bingham in the quarterfinals Thursday at 2:30 p.m. at the University of Utah. — Kyle Spencer
