OGDEN — Right after Pleasant Grove's 80-57 win over Weber in the first round of the Class 6A basketball state playoffs, the Vikings didn’t sit and dwell on the win.

They went right into practice; it was going to be a long week, and they wanted more than one win — but a trip to the state championship game.

The extra passes paid off Friday.

Matt Van Komen had the best game of his four-year career in the postseason with 25 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks, and Casey Brown added 15 points, 10 rebounds and six assists as the Vikings pulled away from Fremont, 72-55 in a 6A state semifinal at Weber State University.

Kawika Akina added 11 points, five rebounds and three steals for Pleasant Grove (24-2), who advanced to face American Fork or Davis in Saturday’s 6A championship.

“We’re really working at this. We’re going for a state championship,” said Van Komen, who has signed with Utah. “We’re not going to come out nervous after this game. It’s going to be big.”

Dallin Hall led Fremont (19-6) with 16 points, five assists and three steals, and teammate Baylor Harrop supplied 14 points and four rebounds for the Silver Wolves, who were out-rebounded 36-24 while battling 7-foot-4 Van Komen in the post.

“He had a white jersey in his grill all night, and he handled that way better than I expected him to,” Pleasant Grove coach Randy McAllister said of Hall. “He took some blows, but he keeps going and going. He’s a great player, and we’re lucky he wasn’t on fire tonight. But I think our defense forced him to give up the ball more than he usually does.”

Pleasant Grove drained 11 3-pointers and out-scored the Silver Wolves 36-16 in the paint, providing the inside-out punch that eventually overwhelmed Fremont. Brown, who has committed to BYU, made three 3-pointers, while Baylor Harrop and Kip Calder each drained two, and Calvin Peterson, Tige Voorhees, Mitch Stratford and Harrison Stimper each finished from deep.

“Having five weapons on the court, anyone can take a shot, and that helps us a little bit,” McAllister said.

Fremont took the upper hand early. Hall, who went off for 38 points in a quarterfinal victory over Riverton, drained his third 3-pointer of the period to give Fremont a 13-7 advantage midway through the period.

But the Vikings pulled within two, 13-11 with a 4-0 spurt to end the period — then opened the second on a 6-0 spurt to take the lead.

Van Komen and Brown paced the run, and the Vikings led by as much as 26-18 on Brown’s bucket with just under three minutes left in the half.

But like Pleasant Grove early, the Silver Wolves didn’t go away, either — and pulled within five, 30-25 at the break on Hall’s fast-break runner just before the halftime buzzer.

Van Komen and Brown combined for 19 of the Vikings’ 30 points and 12 of the team’s 18 rebounds in the first half. They also teamed up to shoot 8-of-12 from the field.

The Silver Wolves did well to score against the Pleasant Grove defense — but couldn’t get stops to start the second half. Brown gave the Vikings a double-digit lead midway through the third quarter, and Akina followed with a wide-open triple from the top of the key that gave Pleasant Grove a 44-33 advantage on the next possession with just under four minutes on the clock.

“It was a shot of energy,” Van Komen said of the second half surge. “We came out a little bit flat and that’s when we hit our peak.”

The Vikings made three triples and a Derek Church power-dunk en route to a 51-42 lead into the fourth quarter. The Utah County squad pushed the lead as high as 71-51 in the fourth quarter, out-scoring the Silver Wolves 21-13 down the stretch en route to the win.

“There’s a feeling in that locker room about being back to where we were last year, and trying to go one step further,” McAllister said. “We’ve got to get one game further than we did last year.

Pleasant Grove 72, Fremont 55

FRE: Peterson 4, Harrop 14, Voorhees 5, Stratford 7, Hall 16, Calder 6, Stimpson 3.

PG: Brown 10, Fairbanks 6, Akina 11, Van Komen 25, Mikkelsen 8, Nichols 3, Miller 1, Church 3.

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