The Lone Peak boys basketball team earned a 3-1 record at the Arizona Basketball Challenge, conducted Dec. 26-30 in Mesa, Ariz. Following is a synopsis of the games. Box scores can be viewed online at preprally.heraldextra.com.

• Dec. 26: Lone Peak 75, Saguaro (Scottsdale, Ariz.) 49: The Knights got off to a fast start in the opener with two steals for layups in the first few minutes.

The Sabercats kept it close for a while, until Tannon Pedersen came in off the bench and hit four unanswered treys to push the margin from one to 13 points in less than two minutes.

Saguaro was a 4A semifinalist last year and the team's D-I recruit, Steven Morin, was held to 4-for-15 shooting through the defensive efforts of Brandon Reeves and Dillon Smith.

Pedersen was 6-for-7 in treys and 5-for-5 in free throws. Reeves (17 points) had a great all-around game with scoring and defense. Smith had six assists, six rebounds and four steals.

The Knights flew in earlier this day after getting up at 5 a.m. and were delayed leaving by the weather in Salt Lake

"I thought the whole team did a tremendous job, especially under the circumstances," said coach Quincy Lewis.

• Dec. 27: Mountain View (Mesa, Ariz.) 60, Lone Peak 51: Tournament host school Mountain View has about 2,700 students and won three straight 5A state championships (2005, '06,'07); they were the preseason pick to win it again this year and are currently ranked No. 2 in the state.

Played in front of a full house, this was a back-and-forth thriller that was anyone's game until the final 30 seconds, when the Toros made 4-of-4 free throws and a fastbreak layup to pull away.

Lewis said, "We never got into a flow offensively and didn't do a good enough job executing in the half-court. We also made some mental errors down the stretch that ended up costing us the game.

"You never want to lose -- there's no such thing as a good loss -- but this is the kind of game you want to play in the preseason," he added. "We took on Arizona's best on their home court, and playing this game will certainly help us down the road."

• Dec. 29: Lone Peak 83, Desert Vista (Phoenix, Ariz.) 46: Desert Vista is the defending Arizona 5A state champion and marquee player Marcus Lever, son of 11-year NBA player Pat Lever, finished with 17 points, but the team was simply no match for the determined Knights.

The Thunder were a perfect 20-for-20 at the free-throw line, but they were held under 30 percent shooting for the game. After hitting 4-for-8 from long range in the first half, they went 0-for-10 in the second period under stepped-up defensive pressure.

Five Knights finished in double figures, led by Tyler Haws with 22. He got 20 of those in 13 minutes during the first half and was on the bench for the final nine minutes of the game. Tommy Tebbs scored 14 with six assists and four steals in his best outing since suffering a serious injury two months ago. He left the game at the same time as Haws. Dallin Ott had a perfect shooting night (4/4 FG, 2/2 FT) and nine rebounds off the bench. As a team, Lone Peak hit 60.8 percent from the floor, including 53.3 percent from 3-point range.

"I thought we shared the ball really well," Lewis said. "Tommy had a nice game with 14 points and six assists. Dallin had a perfect shooting night and gave us a big boost on the glass as well. Brandon (Reeves) had seven assists, which is excellent."

• Dec. 30: Lone Peak 83, Red Mountain (Mesa, Ariz.) 50: For their final opponent, the Knights drew Red Mountain, the second-largest high school in Arizona (3,500 enrollment) and ranked fifth in the state. The ABC program said their core players have been together since the seventh grade.

Like the Knights, the Mountain Lions had one loss in the tournament (Estrella Foothills, last year's 3A champ).

Red Mountain was caught flat-footed by the speed of Lone Peak's offense and the toughness of the defense as the Knights jumped out to an 11-0 lead.

The Lions then launched an 11-4 run to get back in the game. John O'Connor hit a very long 3-pointer to beat the buzzer and the Lions trailed just 35-27 going into the locker room.

Starting the second period, the Knights doubled the size of their lead in less than three minutes and went on to a convincing victory.

Haws was in the zone, hitting 11-of-18 field goals, including a two-handed slam and a hammer dunk, and was also 7-of-8 at the line. He finished with 29 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, two steals, a block and no turnovers in 24 minutes.

Pedersen canned four from long range and finished with 16 points, while Smith added 14 with three treys and Austin scored eight. The Knights dominated on the boards, 44-25 ,and shot 51 percent with the help of 24 assists.

Chris Lewis was the only Mountain Lion in double figures with 14 points. The team hit six treys but tried 23, and they were held under 33 percent shooting.

"I had watched that team a couple of times before and knew they would play hard all the way, which they did," Lewis said. "They were similar in many ways to Mountain View.

"We didn't get the job done against the Toros, and we talked about that at halftime," he continued. "The kids responded with a run to start the second period and the game was over in the first three or four minutes.

"Overall, I was really pleased with what we were able to accomplish here," Lewis said.

• Beky Beaton attended the ABC while on vacation in Arizona. She can be reached at bbeaton@heraldextra.com.