The last time the Bountiful boys' basketball team faced a top-ranked team, it wasn't pretty.

Bingham easily handled the Braves on their home court, 84-48.

Ouch.

It was part of a miserable nonconference slate that saw Bountiful searching for an identity while struggling to reach .500 before taking on the likes of Olympus and Highland in Region 6 play.

The payoff came Friday night when the Braves beat a top-ranked team. This was pretty and it was a 54-51 win over Olympus that not only provided a feel-good story, but first place in the region as the regular season winds down.

Bountiful entered Tuesday's game at Highland on a seven-game winning streak after its disappointing 3-5 start. "We started this season with five juniors scared to death," said Bountiful coach Mike Maxwell. "Now we're five juniors who believe in each other. You can't ask for anything more.

The stars aligned for Bountiful for this game. Olympus was down to its third point guard after Spencer Harris suffered a torn ACL and Joe Bourne broke his ankle in practice the day before. The Titans still hit 10 three-pointers but never got into a true offensive rhythm until the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, Bountiful came out firing and hitting from the start, buoyed by its home-court advantage. The Braves haven't lost on their home court since the Bingham fiasco. "We believe we can outshoot and outscore anyone on this court," Maxwell said. "We very rarely lose at home and the kids have that belief coming through our system that we're going to win here. That kind of attitude makes you come out and play hard."

Maxwell saw other things that make coaches happy when they review game film:

» McKay LaSalle may have been able to match three-pointers with Olympus' back court -- he scored 15 of his game-high 19 from behind the arc -- but he also drew charges in the first half while Bountiful was leading by as many as 12.

» Bountiful withstood Olympus's third-quarter charge, which limited the Braves to five third-quarter points. Olympus managed a 43-39 cushion before Bountiful regained the lead and maintained it down the stretch.

» The Braves defense forced key turnovers by getting the steal off the traps in the corners.

» Center Dan Prawitt's go-ahead basket with 1:42 remaining was the result of Bountiful's guards scrambling after a loose ball and having the court sense to feed it to a wide-open Prawitt under the basket.

» Nick Williams and LaSalle were a combined 6 of 6 from the line in the final 20 seconds.

"We got down four but we didn't get quit. We kept running our plays," Maxwell said. "We still ran the offense and made things happen. It's those little things where you have to execute that pay off and our kids did it."