Vikings advance to play Orem

OREM — In a game where there was no basketball tomorrow for the loser, Pleasant Grove ran away from Timpanogos from the opening bell Thursday night to keep its postseason hopes alive. Pleasant Grove's 64-51 win in the Region 7 play-in game earns the Vikes another game tonight against Orem, with the winner moving on to the Class 4A playoffs to face Bonneville on Monday.

"For some reason Orem always gives us a hard time even scoring baskets. We're going to have to play just as well as we did tonight just to even compete with them," P.G. coach Randy McAllister said.

Timpanogos' season ends after losing to the Vikings twice in the past week.

Pleasant Grove beat Timpanogos in almost every area. The Vikings were superior in rebounding, hustling, scoring inside, scoring in transition, shooting, execution and on defense. The Vikings also took care of the ball much better. It was a combination of Timpanogos handing it to Pleasant Grove and the Vikings stealing the win, with a bunch of the first-quarter steals and turnovers ending up in Pleasant Grove's hands. McAllister said his team turned in its most solid effort on the defensive end in a long time.

"Everyone contributed tonight," McAllister said. "I think a lot guys had steals, about six or seven players, which is a pretty good well-rounded defensive effort."

The Vikings came out full of energy and scored the game's first 12 points. When Chad Evans , who led the Vikes with 16 points, hit a 3-pointer midway through the second period the Vikes led 28-11. Four straight points from Nate Clement a minute later pushed the lead to 32-13.

Pleasant Grove opened the second half on a 13-3 run, stretching the margin to 45-21. But the T-Wolves gave it one last gasp, behind a one-man furious comeback attempt. Senior guard Mac Nelson, held to just six points in the first 18 minutes, erupted to score the T-Wolves next 15 points — pulling Timpanogos to within 13 midway through the final period. However, the charge was simply too little too late. Still, it had McAllister nervous.

"I wasn't comfortable until about 10 seconds left to go in the game," he said.

In other games Thursday:

REG. 15 TOUR

ESCALANTE 60, PIUTE 49: Dallin Shakespear came off the bench to score all seven of his points in the fourth quarter to lead Escalante to a come-back victory over Piute in the Region 15 tournament.