Making their mark: Cavemen continue to impress on the early season with a 77-63 win over Lone Peak
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- American Fork guard Bryce Mella scored a team-high 21 points in the Caveman’s 77-63 win over Lone Peak on Tuesday. January 13, 2026
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- American Fork guard Ashton Hucks looks to drive to the basket during his team’s 77-63 win over Lone Peak on Tuesday. January 13, 2026
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- American Fork guard Bridger Burnside encounters traffic while driving through the lane in the Caveman’s 77-63 win over Lone Peak. January 13, 2026
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- American Fork’s Jax Clark drives to score two of his 17 points during his team’s 77-63 win over Lone Peak on Tuesday. January 13, 2026
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- American Fork forward Jax Clark powers through the lane during his team’s 77-63 win over Lone Peak on Tuesday. January 13, 2026
Toward the end of the first half during American Fork’s 77-63 win over Lone Peak on Tuesday, Caveman coach Ryan Cuff celebrated a play made by his team perhaps more earnestly than usual.
Despite yielding more than a few inches to several of Lone Peak’s big guys inside, American Fork guard Sam Rutter, whose 5-foot-10 listing on the roster is closer to 5-5, at least according to Cuff, grabbed an improbable offensive rebound and putback to extend his team’s lead. The play exemplified what the Cavemen are all about this season after incurring some struggles and subsequent early exit from the 6A state tournament a season ago.
Cuff was apparently particularly enthused by the play, and confirmed as much during his postgame interview.
“There’s that playing with urgency and every game matters,” Cuff said. “…What matters most is what’s in front of us, and I know our guys are dialed into that…Hopefully the (tough games we’ve) played prepares us for what’s ahead of us.”
American Fork’s roster is flush with senior leadership with most of those seniors having logged a lot of minutes during last season’s struggles, which saw the Cavemen finish with just an 8-17 mark on the year. This season, after just 16 games played, Cuff’s team is two wins clear of their entire win total last season, due to the player’s focus, leadership, but perhaps most of all, their toughness. Making the mark even more impressive is that the Cavemen have only lost two in-state games this season, which were an opening season 63-59 loss to powerhouse Bingham and then a tight 62-60 loss to a Timpview team which many consider the top team in the state.
“There’s a hunger and an urgency because we have 10 seniors on our team, and everyone of them is a big part of our team,” Cuff said. “They love each other, they care about each other, and there’s a little bit of a chip on our shoulder because of what happened last year. We have pretty much everyone back from our team last year, so there’s a lot of discipline there which helps in a game-time situation like (tonight.) We don’t win this game last year.”
Despite trailing throughout, Lone Peak made things interesting in the fourth quarter, cutting the game to single digits after American Fork led by large margins from the first quarter on. But American Fork remained focused, hit its foul shots and were ultimately able to separate for the 14-point win.
As mentioned, American Fork got off early, putting it to the Knights on the defensive end while working for open shots both inside the paint and on the perimeter in building a resounding 39-19 lead at the half.
Lone Peak cut a bit into that lead in the third quarter before making its biggest push during the opening few minutes of the final quarter. The Cavemen responded, however, led by guard Bryce Mella’s team-high 21 points with Dieter Tuitavuki both adding 17.
“They fought hard, and give them credit,” Cuff said of Lone Peak. “We got up, and the scary thing about getting up is you don’t want to celebrate. Not that we did, but sometimes when you get that lead you’re trying to protect it, and I was proud of us. We took layups when they were there…But give (Lone Peak) credit. They kept attacking and they did what they had to do to (attempt) to win. But we were able to finish strong there in the fourth (quarter.)”
With the win American Fork improves to 10-6 on the season and will next take on Corner Canyon on the road.
