Cavemen take late lead, win in OT

They never led for 32 minutes of play, but they did when the final buzzer sounded.

The American Fork Cavemen trailed for most of the regulation four quarters Monday against the Olympus Titans, but tied the game in the final minutes and eventually prevailed 76-74 in overtime. The Cavemen move on to play Mountain View at 4:10 p.m. Thursday at the E-Center in the boys Class 4A basketball playoffs.

"I really love our guys' effort, I love their heart and they didn't give up," Cavemen coach Doug Meacham said.

There were several heroes in American Fork's dramatic comeback. You can look at James Shoff's 3-pointer with two minutes remaining that trimmed the Titans lead to two. Or Rick Shoff's trey with 1:25 to play that tied the game for the first time. The many fourth-quarter steals by American Fork's backcourt that gave the Cavemen a chance. Brenan Davis' two late free throws in the fourth quarter and four in overtime. Perhaps center Clayton Searle, who kept American Fork within striking distance for three quarters while his teammates struggled.

"There's not one selfish guy in this group that thinks 'I need more minutes and I need more baskets,' " Meacham said.

But the player who got things clicking for American Fork was sophomore reserve guard Austin Haws. He's played a lot of key minutes this season - in junior varsity games. In varsity crunch time he's normally on the pine. Monday, however, he was the man when the Cavemen needed a man the most.

"It's nice to have some spark plugs. Those are the things that help you get to the next day," Meacham said.

The sneaky sharpshooter came off the bench late in the third quarter, with the Cavemen down by 12, to hit four of five 3-pointers. His last bomb, a shot that Meacham really didn't like until it went in, put the Cavemen up by four in overtime - a lead that Olympus never recovered from.

"I just went in there to give some people a break, and I got a little hot, so I decided to shoot a little bit," the shy Haws said after the game.

For the first two quarters the Titans were the ones getting all the good looks and high percentage shots, which pushed them out to an 11-point first-quarter lead. They maintained a lead of between eight and 12 for the next two quarters, behind the scoring and rebounding of forwards Shaun Green and Chris Marsh.