A pair of underclassmen led the American Fork Cavemen to a 62-32 victory over rival Pleasant Grove on senior night. With the win the Cavemen clinched second place in region 4 and the right to host a first-round playoff game.

Junior Ryan Andrus led the Cavemen with 19 points and freshman Brendan Bailey netted 14 as the home team jumped out to a quick double-digit lead and never looked back.

“I felt like we played terrific. It was one of our best games. It’s special to do this on senior night,” said American Fork senior guard Christian Wells.

The Cavemen were hot from behind the arc right from the opening tip hitting four 3-pointers in the opening quarter. But American Fork head coach Doug Meacham credited his team’s defensive effort as the difference in the game.

“I was impressed with our defense from our seniors,” Meacham said. “I thought when we played them at their place we were just very poor defensively, but we took pride in stopping guys and rebounding tonight.”

Offensively, the Cavemen used their height advantage to work the ball in the post and make the extra pass to the open player.

“In the first quarter we did a great job throwing it inside and our bigs found open shooters and our guards were ready to shoot,” Meacham said. “We have great shooters. They’re just realizing that they get better percentage shots when the bigs touch it.”

Seniors Daniel Nyman and Dallin Childs anchored the Cavemen defensively and made it difficult for the Vikings leading scorers Matt Conway and Riley Court to find any rhythm offensively.

The Cavemen proved to be playing well at just the right time and their confidence shows with how they’ve been playing on the court and they now feel ready to move forward.

“This win gives us motivation and momentum going into the tournament,” Wells said. “We know that we can beat teams out there – anyone that comes in our way. We’ll be ready.”

Pleasant Grove was led by Conway who finished with 11 points and Ben Lee chipped in six. The Vikings finished fourth in region 4 and will play its first round playoff game at region 3’s No. 1 team.

Pleasant Grove (32)

Court 7, DeHoyes 5, Conway 11, Wilson 1, Sheffield 2, Lee 6

American Fork (62)

Andrus 19, Childs 2, Nyman 4, Line 11, Bailey 14, Rawson 4, Poulton 2, Harris 6

Pleasant Grove 4 8 9 10 — 32

American Fork 18 10 18 16 — 62

3-point field goals: Pleasant Grove 1 (DeHoyes); American Fork 11 (Bailey 4, Line 3, Andrus 2, Harris 2)