Pleasant Grove head boys basketball coach Randy McAllister knew his team faced an enormous challenge Tuesday night.

The Vikings had to go on the road to Lehi and attempt to slow down Skyridge senior guard Nick Holland, who is averaging nearly 19 points per game.

Holland showed how dangerous he is right from the opening tipoff, draining a trio of 3-pointers in the first quarter.

But then the Pleasant Grove defense locked in and really made things tough for Holland and the Falcons, limiting him to just four more points (13 total) for the rest of the game.

That effort proved to be enough for the Vikings to grab the lead and make the plays late to secure the 59-51 win over Skyridge, keeping Pleasant Grove as the only unbeaten team in Region 4.

“We looked at what the Falcons were doing to be this good and tried to take away the things they did best enough to come out with a win,” McAllister said. “Nick Holland is such a good player and such a key catalyst for their team. We tried our best to contain him because he creates so much of their offense. He still had a good night and made a lot of big plays for them, but we made him work for everything.”

Viking senior guard Tanner Hanks said the defense was definitely the key to getting the victory.

“We knew they are a good team and so we had to get stops,” Hanks said. “We were able to get a lot of those in the second half and that’s how we were able to come out on top.”

Hanks had one of the highlight-reel moments of the game, making a move from the top of the key and going up for a power dunk with a Skyridge player right in his face.

“I faked and got my guy to go by me,” Hanks said. “I saw it was open, so I just went for it.”

That jam started the fourth quarter and put Pleasant Grove up by 10. The lead would stretch to 12 at 49-37 before the Falcons ramped up their pressure and made enough plays to be dangerous.

“You don’t want a 4-0 run to become a 10-0 run,” McAllister said. “They did enough little runs to have it be scary again. We didn’t handle their 1-3-1 trap. For about a minute, we were terrible so we will be working on that. We have to do a better job adjusting to what the opponent is doing. When you are ahead at the end, teams are going to come after you. We struggled for a few possessions but after that we settled down and attacked it pretty well.”

He said one of the biggest keys was limiting Skyridge’s scoring in the second half.

“I was really happy with the defense,” McAllister said. “We chart stops and I guess we got 13 stops on the last 19 possessions, which is 68% or so. That how you win games. We aren’t a super-explosive offensive team so we have to rely on defense to get the job done.”

Pleasant Grove got a lot of contributions at both ends of the court. Leading the way offensively was senior McCaden Adams, who put up 26 points, while junior forward Isaac Garrett added 12.

The Falcons were paced by 18 points from senior Bryson Bailey.

The Vikings know that the target just keeps getting bigger as they keep piling up wins.

“We’ve got to keep working,” Hanks said. “We can’t slow down.”

Pleasant Grove (14-3, 4-0) next plays at Corner Canyon on Friday while Skyridge (12-3, 4-1) hosts Juan Diego on Jan. 31.

Both games are scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

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