6A basketball tourney blog: Pleasant Grove uses 25-4 fourth to hold off Herriman, 63-42

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OGDEN — The boys returned to play in the 6A state basketball tournament at the Dee Events Center in Ogden Wednesday. The tournament will go through the week, with a champion being named Saturday.

American Fork, Davis, Fremont and Pleasant Grove advanced to Friday's semifinals at Weber State University. The Silver Wolves and Vikings will tip off at 2:30 p.m., followed by the Cavemen and Darts at 4:10 p.m.

Watch the livestream of the tournament.

Read a summary of each quarterfinal in the capsules below.

Wednesday, 09:14pm

Quarterfinals: Pleasant Grove uses 25-4 fourth to hold off Herriman, 63-42

OGDEN — Top-ranked Pleasant Grove never led through three full quarters of its Class 6A state quarterfinal against Herriman. But the Vikings picked a great time to turn it on. Kael Mikkelsen scored a game-high 23 points and six steals, and BYU commit Casey Brown added 18 points, seven rebounds and two steals to help the Vikings overturn a three-quarter deficit en route to a 63-42 win Wednesday night over Herriman. “Tonight, he was Mr. Everything,” Pleasant Grove coach Randy McAllister said of Mikkelsen. “He took an ill-advised three, and I told him the only reason he is not getting his butt kicked is because that was a heat check. He was so hot, so he gets one of those. “He was phenomenal tonight.”

GAME TIME!!

🏀STARTING 5🏀
0️⃣3️⃣ - @_casey_brown3
1️⃣2️⃣ - @tyfairbanks_12
2️⃣1️⃣ - @kawikaakina
2️⃣2️⃣ - @asapmattvk
2️⃣4️⃣ - @kaelmikkelsen

Big time Quarterfinal matchup vs. Herriman is about to Tip-Off! #Utah6AStateTournament #PGHoops #RoadtoRedemption pic.twitter.com/4Wa0HANnj6
— PG Vikings 🏀 (@PGBoysHoops) February 28, 2019

Utah signee Matt Van Komen added four points, six rebounds and five blocks for Pleasant Grove (23-2), and teammate Tyler Fairbanks supplied eight points. BYU football signee Blake Freeland led Herriman with 14 points, eight rebounds and three steals, and Jael Vaughn added 10 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals for the Mustangs. Herriman (16-9) held the Vikings to just 27 percent shooting in the first half, forced seven turnovers, and assisted on 7-of-11 made baskets. No Mustang had more than six points (that honor was shared by Vaughn and Freeland. But Herriman didn’t need any one scorer, electing instead to share the ball and spread the offensive attack against a bigger, stronger Pleasant Grove team that rolled into the tournament with a 21-2 overall record. But almost from the opening tip, the Vikings seemed stunned. Herriman led 14-7 after one quarter, and even after a brief spurt 10-5 spurt pulled Pleasant Grove within three, 19-16, on Fairbanks lay-in, the Mustangs ended the half on a 7-0 run to stretch the halftime gap to 26-17. “Herriman is a great team that can play some really tough, hard-nosed defense, and they came to play,” McAllister said. “They were way more physical than us and we did not match it at all. “I’m very disappointed with the first-half effort. It wasn’t that we played bad; they caused us to look bad. They get credit for playing really well.” But if Pleasant Grove didn’t know how to fight, it wouldn’t have been the top-ranked team in 6A for much of the regular season.

Tyler Triple for 👌👌👌@PGBoysHoops #KSLpreps pic.twitter.com/LP283IAx9o
— KSL.com Sports (@KSLcomSports) February 28, 2019

The Vikings concluded a 10-3 run through the third quarter to pull within two, 29-27 before Freeland stepped outside and drained a three with four minutes on the clock. Pleasant Grove never retook the lead in the third quarter. But the Vikings had the momentum as they took a tie game, 38-38, into the final stanza. “We just tried to take Vaughn out of the game,” McAllister said. “He is so explosive. I remember when we played him his sophomore year, but he has done amazing things in improving his games. We tried to keep the ball out of his hands, and I think that slowed them down a little bit.” Then the Vikings worked their real magic, out-scoring the Mustangs 25-4 in the fourth quarter to close out a trip to the semifinals. “Kael Mikkelsen was unbelievable tonight, in the second half especially,” McAllister said. “He brought us back almost single-handedly on the offensive end.” — Sean Walker, KSL.com

Wednesday, 07:44pm

Quarterfinals: Dallin Hall drops 38 to pull Fremont away from Riverton for semifinal bid

OGDEN — There’s something about Fremont’s Dallin Hall and third quarters. After Riverton overcame a 27-22 halftime deficit and took a 30-29 edge midway through the third, Hall took over. And did he ever. The junior wing scored 38 points, including 12 in the third quarter, to go along with a team-high three assists as Fremont overcame the Silverwolves, 68-55, Wednesday to advance to Friday’s Class 6A state semifinals at Weber State. And by the way, Hall did it in front of coaches from BYU and Utah. “We were just looking for a spark and my teammates did an awesome job of finding me,” said Hall, whose first offer came from Utah Valley, and he’s since drawn interest from Idaho State, Utah State and Oregon State. “I just tried to move around without the ball, and they found me. “That really helped open things up for me. And we just kind of came out hot in that third quarter.” Baylor Harrop, who set a school record previously this year with 40 points, finished with 13 points and four rebounds for the Silver Wolves (19-5), and teammate Tige Voorhees added 12 points, two assists and two steals for Fremont. And that is perhaps the biggest asset of Hall’s game — despite taking 24 shots (he made 12 of them, including 4-of-8 from 3-point range), the junior finished with 3 of the Silver Wolves’ seven assists, and helped two other players score in double digits. “That goes to his trust factor. He trusts his guys. He trusts his teammates,” Fremont coach Corey Melaney said. “When he’s driving and nobody is there, he’s going to lay it in. But if somebody is there, he’s going to make the right read. He did tonight.” Parker Applegate led Riverton (14-11) with 19 points, and Tristyn Hymus added 14 points, 10 rebounds and three assists, while Dayne McDonald chipped in nine points, five boards and five assists. Neither team led by more than a pair of possessions through a pacey first half. But Fremont took a 27-22 edge into the break while holding Riverton scoreless for the final two minutes of the half. But McDonald scored four during Riverton’s 11-2 start to the second half, giving the Silverwolves a 33-29 edge with 3:26 left in the third quarter. That’s when Hall showed up. The junior scored 12 points in the first six minutes of the quarter, including a run of 10-straight to pull the Silver Wolves back ahead 39-36, en route to a 41-38 lead after three quarters. Hall scored 12 of Fremont’s 14 points in the third quarter, and even opened the fourth with a driving layup to stretch the lead to multiple possessions. Only one other Fremont player scored in the second half until Kai Featherstone hit a layup with 7:03 left in the fourth quarter. That bucket gave the Silver Wolves a 48-41 lead. Hall’s one-shot trickeration opened up his teammates, too. Featherstone. Voorhees. Harrop. It didn’t matter, even when his teammates urged him to go for the school record in the game's final minute. “I felt like eventually, they’d start collapsing,” Hall said. “I trust my teammates and I knew they would get it, so I kicked it out to them and tried to make the right plays.” By the middle of the fourth quarter, Fremont led by 10, 58-48. A once tight game had been blown open. The Silver Wolves will play in Friday’s semifinals at 2:30 p.m. at Weber State. “When he needs to be, he steps up. We’ve seen it out of him before,” Melaney said of Hall. “To do it on a big stage like this, though, separates the really good players from the great ones.” — Sean Walker, KSL.com

Come on Fremont!!! #Packunited pic.twitter.com/wDD8N72rbr
— Fremont High School (@THEfremonthigh) February 28, 2019

Wednesday, 06:06pm

Quarterfinals: Davis out-shoots Kearns 71-52 for semifinal berth

OGDEN — Officially, Kearns High held the “No. 1” seed line in Wednesday’s Class 6A quarterfinal against Davis, by virtue of the Cougars’ Region 2 title. But don’t call the Darts “underdogs.” Jake Sampson poured in 18 points, including a game-high five 3-pointers, and Tyson Garff added 15 points and three assists as Davis got a big lead early and never let up in a 71-52 win over Kearns at the Dee Events Center. Trevan Leonhardt added 14 points and six rebounds, and Brendon Redford supplied 12 points, six assists and three boards for the Darts (18-7). “I thought our guys did a really good job of sharing the basketball,” said Davis coach Chad Sims, whose team assisted on 16 of 25 shots. “We talked about it early — and then we just happened to make the shots.” The Darts, who shot 62 percent from the field, cruised to a 25-11 first-quarter advantage, scoring 13 points in the final 1:45 of the period capped by Redford’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer. Majok Kuath had 16 points, five rebounds, two blocks and two steals to learn the Cougars (19-7), and Emmanuel Andrew Kuac added 14 points and six rebounds. Led by nine points each from Sampson and Leonhardt, Davis shot 56 percent from the field before the break — including 6-of-11 from 3-point range. Yet the Darts also had an answer inside, out-scoring the Cougars 14-6 in the paint and only narrowly giving up the rebound battle, 11-10. “We knew if we could take care of the basketball and rebound, they weren’t going to get in there after that little lead, and I thought our guys did a really good job of that,” Sims said. Even when Kearns made a run in the third quarter, Davis matched the Cougars nail-for-nail. New Mexico signee Kuac threw down a thunderous dunk, but Sampson responded with a three. Kuac went inside for an and-one — but the Darts got it back, and then some, with Redford’s baseline reverse scoop off a feed from Leonhardt to keep Davis up, 45-35 with 2:21 left in the third. The Darts advanced to face American Fork in Friday’s 6A semifinals. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:10 p.m. — Sean Walker, KSL.com

Wednesday, 04:24pm

Quarterfinals: UVU-bound Stewart rallies Cavemen by Copper Hills, 63-59

OGDEN — You may have to trust American Fork coach Ryan Cuff when he says that the Cavemen had a plan going into their Class 6A state quarterfinal Wednesday. That plan, however, began to fall apart about three minutes into their matchup with Copper Hills. Fortunately for the Cavemen, Plan B worked out well enough — and his name was Trey Stewart. The Utah Valley signee had a game-high 22 points, four assists and four steals, and Oregon-bound post Isaac Johnson added 11 points and seven rebounds to help American Fork rally by Copper Hills, 63-59 at Weber State’s Dee Events Center. “We were shaken up a bit, and it threw our game plan off,” Stewart said of the first half. “But coach put together another amazing game plan, and we came out, stuck together as brothers, and played our hearts out.” Tanner Cuff added 11 points, four assists and three steals for the Cavemen (22-3), who made 24 free throws to hold on for the win. For Copper Hills, with star post Trevon Allfrey nursing a sore ankle, Stone Hutchings came to play. The junior guard scored eight points in the second quarter, including back-to-back threes to open the period, to help the Grizzlies to a 35-23 halftime advantage. Hutchings finished with 14 points, Kyle Hoffman added 16 points and two assists, and Tyler Bush and Perry Dettling scored 11 points apiece for Copper Hills (17-7). Allfrey added seven points, six rebounds and two assists as the Grizzlies took a 6-4 lead three minutes into the first quarter and never let up until the half. “That scared us. I know that they are very well coached, and they would be ready,” Cuff said. “They had a game plan, and we had a Plan B. I wish that we could’ve stuck with our Plan A, but I give them a lot of credit. They played well.” Two halves make the whole game — and American Fork’s whole game came out of the locker room. Johnson keyed a 14-2 run through the latter half of the third quarter to tie the game at 42-42. The only two points came after the 6-foot-11 Johnson stared down his 5-foot-8 defender on a breakaway dunk, earning a technical foul that Allfrey converted on the other end. From the field, though, the game was all American Fork. “We were rattled a bit at the beginning,” Stewart said. “But at halftime we calmed down, came back with confidence, and trusted each other.” The Cavemen limited Copper Hills to seven points in the third quarter, with Johnson singlehandedly out-scoring that output with nine points in the quarter. The Cavemen took its first lead since the opening quarter on Stewart’s off-handed layup with 6:05 remaining, then took the lead for good on Stewart’s drive to the basket a few moments later. Stewart made seven of American Fork’s 11 free throws down the stretch to hold out for the win, which advances the Cavemen to Friday’s semifinals against the winner of Davis and Region 2 champion Kearns at 4:10 p.m. Friday. “I’m extremely proud of him. He’s been a leader all year,” Cuff said of Stewart, whose father Ray played at Utah Valley in 1989-90. “His teammates helped take a lot of him, too, and that allowed him to do what he does.” — Sean Walker, KSL.com

6A basketball tourney blog: Pleasant Grove uses 25-4 fourth to hold off Herriman, 63-42

By KSL.com | Updated - Feb. 27, 2019 at 9:17 p.m. | Posted - Feb. 27, 2019 at 4:42 p.m.

Quarterfinals: Pleasant Grove uses 25-4 fourth to hold off Herriman, 63-42

Quarterfinals: Dallin Hall drops 38 to pull Fremont away from Riverton for semifinal bid

Quarterfinals: Davis out-shoots Kearns 71-52 for semifinal berth

Quarterfinals: UVU-bound Stewart rallies Cavemen by Copper Hills, 63-59

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6A basketball tourney blog: Pleasant Grove uses 25-4 fourth to hold off Herriman, 63-42

By KSL.com | Updated - Feb. 27, 2019 at 9:17 p.m. | Posted - Feb. 27, 2019 at 4:42 p.m.

Quarterfinals: Pleasant Grove uses 25-4 fourth to hold off Herriman, 63-42

Quarterfinals: Dallin Hall drops 38 to pull Fremont away from Riverton for semifinal bid

Quarterfinals: Davis out-shoots Kearns 71-52 for semifinal berth

Quarterfinals: UVU-bound Stewart rallies Cavemen by Copper Hills, 63-59

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