High school boys basketball: American Fork cleanly defends home against region rival Lone Peak

It didn’t take long for American Fork to get rolling in its Region 3 rivalry matchup with Lone Peak on Tuesday. The offense was hot, and the Knights struggled to stop it as American Fork rolled to a 77-63 home win.

The Cavemen went to the basics early and drove into the paint. American Fork didn’t need many outside shots to build its early 19-11 lead.

The lead only grew from there after Lone Peak attempted a full-court press and double-team heavy defense. Possession after possession, American Fork broke down the defense with smart passes, mostly through the high post.

Center Jax Clark made his presence known early by pulling in rebounds and getting easy buckets at the rim.

The Cavemen were playing fast and free, and nearly everyone on the court was getting action. American Fork sophomore Dieter Tuitavuki especially played well off the bench with 14 bench points, which includes three 3-pointers.

Sam Rutter, a smaller guard on the court, got an offensive rebound, putback, and then took a charge on the following defensive possession.

The fast and free offense even gave American Fork ample opportunities from beyond the arc, and the offense hit four in the second quarter alone.

It was plays like that which gave American Fork a dominant 39-18 lead at halftime.

“We came out really hungry early, and we were aggressive, and we shot shots,” said American Fork head coach Ryan Cuff. “One thing about what you do when you press is that you get teams to continue to shoot shots and try to shoot out of it. I thought there were some shots that were rusty, but a lot of our shots were still layups. We controlled the tempo a little bit that way.”

Lone Peak continued its press-heavy defense into the second half with more success, but more importantly, it was finally hitting shots. Knights’ guard Saxon Young struggled with his shot at points of the game, but hit two threes in the third quarter.

The Knights’ offense scored 24 in the third quarter, but American Fork kept chugging along with 20 of its own. Utah State commit Bryce Mella played especially well by getting to the rim, scoring efficiently, and ended the night with 21 points.

The field goals were much harder to come by in the fourth quarter thanks to the Lone Peak defense, and for the first time since the first half, Lone Peak cut it to single digits.

That problem was made worse with errors at the free-throw line. However, American Fork made sure to seal the win by continuing to fight through the press and getting to the free-throw line.

“They fought hard and give (Lone Peak) credit,” Cuff said. “We get up, and the thing that’s scary about getting up, you don’t want to celebrate. Not that we did, but sometimes you get that lead, and now you’re trying to protect it. I was proud of us. We kept attacking. We got layups when they were there.”

The win already gives American Fork sole control of the top spot in Region 3, but there’s still a lot of season to go. It beat Lehi in its region opener last week and will play Corner Canyon on Friday.