High school boys basketball: American Fork knocks down free throws late to beat Fremont in first round of 6A playoffs

In the first round of the 6A playoffs, No. 15 American Fork ran away from No. 18 Fremont late and won with a gritty 59-50 victory.

American Fork was led by Bryce Mella who had a team high 18 points, with 13 of those points in the first half to go along with four 3-pointers. Jax Clark also had a stellar night, contributing 15 points of his own.

“We knew coming out that it would be a battle. For us, we kind of weathered the storm from them a little bit. and I am just proud of our guys that we were able to make some free throws there at the end. It’s fun just to get the first one out of the way,” said American Fork head coach Ryan Cuff.

The Cavemen had a strong start to the game offensively, putting up 19 points and holding Fremont to just 11 after the opening frame.

The defense tightened up for both sides in the second quarter, and American Fork found themselves with a six-point advantage at 26-20 at the half.

The grind-it-out, defensive battle that occurred throughout the game was to be expected according to Cuff.

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“We got guys that can knock down the clutch shots and and it’s just about believing in each other and trusting each other as well as the system. If you look at Fremont’s previous games, the games were scored in the 40s and 50s. We knew that it was going to be a grind it out kind of defensive battle. We knew that if we could score in the 50s that would help but we definitely wanted to keep them in the 40s,” add Cuff.

Trailing by nine to start the fourth quarter at 41-32, Fremont went on a 6-0 run to start the quarter and was eventually able to get it down to as much as a 2-point deficit with four minutes left in the game.

American Fork got to the free throw line at will down the stretch and hit their shots in crunch time, helping them to pull away late.

“The guys just battled. We’ve had those types of games all year and I don’t think we panicked. In the playoffs if you lose a game, you go home and I don’t think our kids panicked even with added pressure at all because we’ve been there and we were able to take care of the ball there at the end. Knocking down the free throws there at the end was also huge for us,” said Cuff.

Fremont’s Easton Duff had a game high 23 points in the losing effort for his side.

Things only get tougher from here on out for American Fork, who will face No. 2 Davis in the next round of the playoffs.