Knights shock league-leading Bengals
Lone Peak's Brody Berry drives around a Brighton defender during their game at Lone Peak High School Friday, Jan. 29, 2010. MARK JOHNSTON/Daily Herald
The Lone Peak boys basketball team survived foul trouble, free-throw woes and tough defense to earn an emotional 67-62 victory over Region 4 title favorite Brighton in Highland Friday night.
"I'll tell you what, we showed some guts tonight," said Knight coach Quincy Lewis. "That Jordan game on Wednesday was our third tough loss this season. This one was about the resilience of our young kids and our seniors stepping up."
Lone Peak trailed by seven at halftime, when the school honored former star Jackson Emery with a jersey retirement ceremony.
"We'd gone 2 ½ years without losing a home game before Jordan," the coach said. "I told the kids in the locker room that we weren't going to lose this one with Jackson here."
The Knights responded with a 25-point third quarter to take a 50-46 lead into the final period.
That's when it really got interesting.
With the near-capacity crowd getting louder and louder as the clock wound down, the two squads battled through to the finish of a rugged contest.
The final stretch included multiple lead changes, tough shots and defensive heroics by both squads, and lots of free throws. Lone Peak struggled from the line all night but made them when it really counted.
The teams were tied at 56 with 3:16 to play. Tannon Pedersen intercepted a pass and Brody Berry got one of two charity shots to break the deadlock. However, the Bengals took the lead when Loi Masina got a quick bucket on the other end.
On the subsequent in-bounds play, a long outlet pass went to Nick Emery, who immediately forwarded the ball to Christian Childs inside to get the advantage back with 2:30 to go.
The Knights never trailed again, but they weren't out of the woods yet.
On the next trip up the floor, Pedersen got another critical steal. Childs boarded a Lone Peak miss and was fouled, sending Austin Hudson to the Brighton bench for good after 16 points and an outstanding night on the glass.
Childs hit the free throws, but that increased gap was wiped out when Moses Lotulelei scored on the other end.
Emery then drove to the hoop and got a short floater to drop, but the Bengals answered again when Masina sank a flying layup with under a minute remaining.
The Knights turned the ball over on their next possession, but Brady Berry got a steal and the home team was able to run the clock down to 22 seconds before Brighton was forced to foul.
Pedersen hit 4-of-4 charity shots in those final seconds with a steal in between to seal the victory. He finished with 22 points, including a pair of treys and 8-of-9 at the line, to go with 11 rebounds for a double-double and the three big steals.
Emery was in foul trouble much of the game. "It felt like Nick was having a bad game, but he still went 6-for-12 and ended up with 16 points," Lewis said.
Childs added nine points, five rebounds and several blocks and deflections. The Berry brothers each scored eight apiece, but more importantly, Brody had eight assists and no turnovers despite being pressed hard-core the entire game.
"That was great for him," Lewis said. "Tannon was a steadying influence on the court all night, and Talon (Shumway) gave us great minutes off the bench right when we needed it, with Nick in foul trouble."
The coach adjusted the defense in the second half to try to hamper the Bengals' inside game.
"They were doing a nice job of feeding to the post, so we had to do something," he explained. "I didn't know if it would work, but sometimes you've got to make your own luck. I thought we did that tonight."
Corbin Miller paced Brighton with 18 points and Sam Wunderli added 13.
For their next contests, the Knights (4-3, 13-3) will visit Alta (5-2, 12-4), while the Bengals (5-2, 12-4) will welcome American Fork (1-6, 9-7) on Friday. The games are set to tip off at 7 p.m.
