Posting notice: Pleasant Grove upsets powerhouse Orem 81-80
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- Pleasant Grove coach Carsen Williams instructs his players during a timeout during the Vikings’ 81-80 upset win over Orem on Tuesday. January 6, 2026
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- Pleasant Grove guard Milo Johansson looks to drive the lane during the Vikings’ 81-80 win over Orem on Tuesday. January 6, 2026
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- Pleasant Grove forward Jaxon Brown muscles up for two of his 15 points scored in an 81-80 win over Orem on Tuesday. January 6, 2026
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- Pleasant Grove guard Preston White terminates on the perimeter during his team’s 81-80 win over Orem on Tuesday. January 6, 2026
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- Pleasant Grove’s Brennan Blackett scored a team-high 17 points during his team’s thrilling 81-80 win over Orem on Tuesday. January 6, 2026
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- Pleasant Grove’s Kyler Jense looks to reverse his shot underneath the basket during his team’s 81-80 win over Orem on Tuesday. January 6, 2026
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- Orem’s Simeon Suguturaga rises up for a dunk during his team’s 81-80 loss to Pleasant Grove on Tuesday. January 6, 2026
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- Orem guard Aisea Galeai looks to drive during his team’s 81-80 loss to Pleasant Grove on Tuesday. January 6, 2026
What a difference a month can make.
A lot would be the answer, at least for a Pleasant Grove’s boys basketball team that recorded possibly the top upset of the season thus far on Tuesday, defeating powerhouse Orem 81-80.
The game worked in stark contrast to a 73-43 thumping the Vikings took to Lone Peak in late November where they proved incapable of mounting any serious threat to prove competitive.
Since then the Vikings have simply gone to work, kept their heads down and their spirits up while believing in the system administered by second-year Pleasant Grove Head Coach Carsen Williams.
“We have a really talented group where a lot of guys here who have learned and committed themselves to doing it together,” Williams said. “They’ve bought into each other and they’ve bought into the right things. When we do all that, we’ve learned that the results will speak for themselves and those results have come after a rough start to the year.”
Indeed the Vikings now present a 9-6 record on the season after incurring a 1-4 start out of the gate, which included the aforementioned loss to the Knights, along with consecutive losses to both Layton Christian and Farmington. Since taking a tight loss to Farmington, Pleasant Grove reeled off four straight wins before heading out-of-town to test itself against top competition, before returning back to Utah to take big wins over the likes of Layton, Davis and most notably Orem.
“Tonight was big,” Williams said. “We beat two great teams in Layton and Davis, and then this is a really good one here. But we’re focused on ourselves. People might start talking about Pleasant Grove now, and that’s okay because it doesn’t effect us and the potential we have as a team.”
Pleasant Grove’s potential was on full display during Tuesday’s win.
The two teams battled back and forth through much of the early going before the Vikings earned some separation heading into the half, building a 44-37 lead. Coming out of the break, Williams’ team quickly went to work to extend its lead to 54-39, forcing the Tigers to play catch up for the remainder.
“It was just doing the simple things and sharing the ball effectively,” Williams said of his team’s initial second half surge. “We’re a great transition team and we were able to get out and run, which helped us a lot. But it was mostly about being unselfish, finding the open man and then knocking down the shots that we had.”
For the game Pleasant Grove seemed to answer every Orem run with a big shot, with a lot of those shots coming from behind the 3-point line. Leading the way for the Vikings on the perimeter was Ashton Palmer, who knocked down four 3-pointers and Brennan Blackett, who added three of his own.
“Again, it was just an unbelievable team effort in working to get those open looks,” Williams said. “We’ve got guys who are really committed to finding the best shots. Ashton Palmer continued to come up huge for us, but it was everybody. Guys like Brennan Blackett, Jaxon Brown, Milo Johannson all knocking down big shots, and then guys like Preston White, who also hit some big shots, and then Oliver Mosman and Kyler Jense. All of our seven guys we rotate got it done for us tonight and I couldn’t be happier with the effort.”
Leading the way in the scoring column was Blackett, who scored 17 points, followed by Brown’s 15 and both Palmer and Mosman, each of whom chipped in 12. For Orem, it was led by Troy Kaufusi and Simeon Suguturaga, who scored 28 and 26 points, respectively.
Despite Pleasant Grove establishing a big lead, the Tigers kept coming and cut the lead to single-digits late before making things particularly interesting at the end. But big free throws were made and ultimately the Vikings did just enough to hold their composure to fend off hard-charging Orem, a team which were runners-up in the 5A state tournament just a season ago.
“I checked my Apple watch right after we celebrated and it was (very high), so that’s not healthy, and I’ll have to work to control that. But man, I’m just so happy we were able to hold off a great team like Orem and get it done,” Williams said. “I’m most of all happy for our players and the hard work they’re doing. We still have a long ways to go, though. But I really like where we’re headed as a team in making sure we’re playing at our best at the end of the season when it truly matters.”
With the win Pleasant Grove improved to 9-6 on the season and will next take on Wasatch. Orem falls to 9-6 with the loss and will look to rebound when taking on Timpview.
