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American Fork senior Tiger Cuff (left) and Lehi senior Cooper Lewis battle for position during the Region 3 game at Lehi on Friday, Jan 12, 2023.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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American Fork senior Tiger Cuff (left) and Lehi senior Cooper Lewis battle for position during the Region 3 game at Lehi on Friday, Jan 12, 2023.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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American Fork senior Tiger Cuff (left) and Lehi senior Cooper Lewis battle for position during the Region 3 game at Lehi on Friday, Jan 12, 2023.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Lehi senior Cooper Lewis shoots a shot during the Region 3 game against American Fork in Lehi on Friday, Jan 12, 2023.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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American Fork senior Tiger Cuff (right) gets congratulated by a teammate after making a layup while being fouled during the Region 3 game at Lehi on Friday, Jan 12, 2023.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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It may be fitting that when Lehi senior Cooper Lewis and American Fork senior Tiger Cuff stepped onto the floor for the Region 3 clash in Lehi last Friday, they both sported the same number on their respective jerseys.

And that number, No. 1, highlights their importance to their teams.

Both Lewis and Cuff are tremendous athletes who are elite scorers (Lewis is averaging 25.5 points per game in 2023-24 while Cuff averages 15.8) but also do other things to elevate the Pioneers and Cavemen.

And they both happen to be playing for their fathers.

American Fork’s Ryan Cuff and Lehi’s Quincy Lewis have established themselves as two of the top coaches in the state. Both are serious about making sure their sons are treated no differently than the other players on the team.

“When I’m a coach, I’m never a dad,” Ryan Cuff said after last week’s game at Lehi. “You want to separate it. Of course I’m proud that I have a son on my team and I love coaching him. I know where he will be because he’s been around it. It’s gratifying when you see that your kids succeed — but we have a lot of ‘sons’ on our teams. You want everyone to succeed.”

When a player has a special night, like Cooper Lewis did in scoring 47 points to lead the Pioneers past the Cavemen last week, there is a little extra sense of pride for a dad.

“It’s special when you see something like that,” Quincy Lewis said. “You have guys like Nick Emery or TJ Haws or all those guys, you get close to them to the point where they feel like they are your own son. But this is kind of cool because he is my own son.”

But both Quincy Lewis and Ryan Cuff work hard to have the right balance between basketball and family.

“One thing that I found in coaching and I’ve always done is that I’ve never taken it home,” Ryan Cuff said. “I think that’s one thing that’s probably helped our family. We love the game of basketball and we put a lot of time into it. But we also have a lot of family time.”

Tiger Cuff explained that he values the fact that their time at home is about the family.

“I’m used to it because my dad has been coaching my whole life,” Tiger Cuff said. “But we don’t talk basketball at home. But when it comes to basketball, I respect him because I know he is a great player’s coach. He is someone you want to play super-hard for because you trust them and love them so much.”

Someone else both Tiger and Ryan Cuff have a great deal of respect for is Cooper Lewis.

“He’s a phenomenal player,” Tiger Cuff said. “He scored 47 points tonight, which is unreal. That’s just insane. He’s a great player.”

Ryan Cuff said Cooper Lewis is tough to face as an opposing coach.

“He’s a winner who gets the job done and has that killer instinct,” Ryan Cuff said. “You want to get him to play a certain way but he hits big-time shots. There were some things that we could have done maybe a little bit better to get the ball out of his hands, but there are other guys on their team that can shoot too.”

Tiger Cuff’s scouting report on Cooper Lewis is first to try to limit his touches.

“Their coaches are obviously drawing up plays for him and trying to get him open,” Tiger Cuff said. “He was hitting those shots.”

On the flip side, Cooper and Quincy Lewis have equally high regard for what Tiger Cuff brings to the court.

“He is a well-balanced player,” Quincy Lewis said. “He can post up, he can make the 3s and he also sees the floor really well. He’s a really balanced player. I don’t think you can just go in and say we’re going to take this or that away from him. You have to just play whatever your best defense is and hope to slow him down.”

Cooper Lewis recalled facing Tiger Cuff as far back as fourth grade, with a triple-overtime battle in St. George in fifth or sixth grade being one of the highlights.

“Tiger is a great competitor,” Cooper Lewis said. “I love playing against him. He had great poise on the court, he’s tough and he’s a good leader. It’s always fun to have two coach’s kids going head-to-head. It’s always fun playing against a good friend of mine.”

Cooper Lewis and Tiger Cuff haven’t seen as much of each other in their high school careers because Lehi and American Fork were in different classifications prior to 2023-24. Now both are in Region 3 and that means there will be a second matchup at American Fork on Feb. 2 with a potential third meeting in the 6A playoffs.

The Pioneers took the first battle but Tiger Cuff said the key for the Cavemen moving forward is to stay confident.

“We need to believe in what we’re doing,” Tiger Cuff said. “What hurt us tonight was our defense. We need to step up and be able to guard. Hopefully we’ll become one of the best defensive teams in the state as well.”

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