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Show American fork ( itimi New Utah Thursday. March II. 2X4 - Page 6 Sports Sports editor: Beky Beaton 756-5273 bbeaton heraldextra. corn Cavemen begin tournament with upset of 3 Olympus By BEKY BEATON st.ite tournament at half- The American Fork hoys' time of the first-round game hafckelhall team may have against Olympus, when looked rea dy to make a they trailed 21-30, hut quick exit from last week's appearances can sometimes m n mi n wm mmm, m m l Senior Brigg Barron looks to start an attack during the first-round upset of Olympus. f J0 6? JPH y r James Shoff takes a jumper against the Titans. he deceiving. The Cavemen roared hack in the second half to outscore the third-ranked Titans 40-31 to force overtime, over-time, then went on to win 76-74 in a heart-stopping thriller at the E Center in West Valley City March 2. The story of the game was sophomore Austin Haws, who has played little hut cleanup minutes during varsity contests this year. He hit 4 of 5 three-pointers and both his freethrows to produce 14 points in 17 minutes on the floor, helping help-ing to push the team back into contention, and then on to the victory. Rick Shoff finished with 22 points and 6 boards, while Clay Searle scored 16. Brenan Davis added 11 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds and 4 steals, and James Shoff had 9 points and 4 assists. The team shot 22 of 29 from the freethrow line. "We played really well in the first half, we just didn't attack the basket," said coach Doug Meacham. "They had some size and we were a bit intimidated at first. We got in a little foul trouble too, but the kids didn't did-n't quit. They have some heart. I told them at half-time half-time that we just needed to get back in it little by little. "Rick helped us with his offensive intensity, and then we had a sophomore step in who gives us a lift defensively," defen-sively," the coach continued. "He also finds his range, and we have to go with the hot hand. I was worried about that three-pointer he took in overtime, until it went in. Austin was our leading scorer for both the sophomore and JV teams, so he has some confidence that he can make baskets." Meacham concluded, "Everyone on this team understands their role. There's not one selfish player play-er in this group. It's a big part of the reason why we've been successful all year, and it was true again today." w at. 1 r WiA k CJ ff Photos by Beky Beaton Point guard Brenan Davis brings the ball downcourt against Mountain View on Thursday. The Little Engine That Could All season long, watching the American Fork boys' basketball team has reminded me of that favorite story of childhood, "The Little Engine That Could." With a starting lineup composed of four guards and one small forward, the Cavemen Cave-men have played big all year and achieved some remarkable results. They defeated one of the top programs from Ohio, a number of high schools that wfvJuPjJ-, Utah has. They very nearly pulled off an upset over Lone Peak, a team that was ranked 1 for most of the season and finished with the state's best record at 21-2. It took a last-second shot for the Knights to survive sur-vive that one. The Cavemen took out Timpview by dominating in a second overtime even with their two Division 1 signees, including includ-ing 610" center Chris Miles, who is six inches taller than his American Fork counterpart. They also got a 13-point victory over eventual state champion Provo - and all that was just for starters. It was in the tournament that this team really showed what the players were m&mi r-.-.-nmi rr i. m, n n m, m -. ,j made of. Lifeless in the first half against 3 Olympus, they surged back and took the game away from them in the fourth quarter. Then, matched against a big, athletic Mountain View team, they outhustled them on defense and took it to the hoop on offense to oust another of the tournament favorites. Even though Payson got off to the hot start Friday, the Cavemen soon took over the game and were in a position to win it right to the final wrhistle. What were their secrets? Great chemistry chem-istry and unselfish team play. A disciplined disci-plined and inspiring coaching staff with the sense to let the players do what they do best. And wonderful, enthusiastic crowd support, no matter what was happening hap-pening in the games. It all ended one game too soon, but that was a lot farther than anyone but them expected them to go. In the long run, that's how this team deserves to be remembered - as the undersized squad that faced up to the state's biggest challenges, and met them all with fire and determination, no matter what the eventual result turned out to be. Cavemen defeat 4 Bruins in quarterfinal By Beky Beaton After corning so close to elimination on Tuesday, the American Fork hoys' basketball bas-ketball team left no doubt as they retired fourth ranked Mountain View 61-?2 61-?2 in the 4A state quarterfinals quarterfi-nals on Thursday at the E Center. Both teams got off to a slow start scoring as it was ''.sTy Mi Vf r. as x Sophomore guard David 0lsen looks to pass March 2. just 6-5 for the Cavemen with 2:32 left in the first quarter. However, American Fork then launched a 10-2 run to take control of the game. A defensive board by James Shoff ended up back in his hands for a trey following fol-lowing a pass from Clay Searle. On the next possession, posses-sion, Brigg Barron dished to Searle inside for a bucket. James Shoff got another rebound on the other end, and that was converted with an Austin Haws three-pointer. three-pointer. A long, high pass from Brenan Davis to Rick Shoff was dropped in the net from the air to make it 16-7 at the end of the period. Second-quarter treys by Rick Shoff, Barron and James Shoff Helped lift the Cavemen Cave-men to a 31-16 advantage at the half. As expected, the Bruins did make a run during the later periods and managed to reduce the gap by a few points now and then, but they never got the deficit below double digits until they put in a final meaningless meaning-less basket. "They just came out with that look in their eyes today," said coach Doug Meacham. "We brought it right from the beginning, and came out the aggressor. I challenged them to win the rebounds, and they did." The Cavemen had been outrebounded by Olympus 39-25 the game before, but won this battle of the glass 30-23 against a team that was just as bijg as the Titans. "We tested every attempt and made them work for every shot," Meacham continued. con-tinued. "James and Brigg rotated defensively on All-man." All-man." The Bruins' leading scorer was limited to five points in this contest. "Rick defended their 6'7" guy in the post and also scored for us, as he's done all year. "WTe've always believed we could beat anyone," the coach said. "They got us before, and we learned from it." Mountain View needed overtime to beat American Fork by a single point 69-68 on Jan. 9. "Clay is our quietest asset," he added. "He doesn't does-n't say much, but he does a lot on the basketball court. He's an intelligent kid and a hard worker." Searle finished the game leading all scorers with 17, and also had 4 boards. Rick Shoff added 16 points, 7 rebounds and 2 steals, James Shoff scored 8 with 7 boards, a pair of assists and a block, and Davis had 8 points, 6 assists and 3 rebounds. The team was 14 of 17 for 82.4 percent from the charity chari-ty stripe. All of those shots were taken in the second half. f if " ( V J' ' lit! r V i) ; . U : t ; - .. . 1 American Fork's Clay Searle elevates to shoot Thursday. |