Highland » Freshmen sensation Nick Emery and senior Tannon Pedersen both fouled out for Lone Peak and Pleasant Grove used a balanced scoring attack to come away with an important Region 4 victory on the road, 62-54, on Wednesday.

Both teams came out of the gate slowly to start the game, with fouls and turnovers occurring more frequently than made baskets. Emery picked up two quick whistles in the first four minutes, and went to the bench for the rest of the quarter.

The 6-foot-1 Emery came back to start the second quarter with a nifty drive and layup that appeared to get him back on track, but another foul with under 30 seconds left in the half derailed that.

The rest of the second quarter belonged to Pleasant Grove (10-7, 5-3), as Dallas Lloyd and Cory McCallister started to get hot from behind the arc, combining for three three-pointers and pushing the Viking lead to 33-24 at the half.

In the third quarter, Emery picked up his fourth foul, and went to the bench again for the entire quarter. For the night Emery finished with 12 points, eight off of his season average of 20.38 per game.

"Coming into tonight, our game plan was to contain Emery and Pedersen," said Viking head coach Randy McCallister, "They ended up taking themselves out of the game, and that was huge for us."

The fourth quarter belonged to Joe Kruger. The 6-foot-7 senior was nearly unstoppable in the paint, scoring eight points in the quarter, two of which came off a huge dunk that squashed any momentum for Lone Peak (13-5, 4-5).

"We knew what this game meant," said Kruger, "We wanted to come out and make a statement on their court, and all of us stepped it up tonight."

Sefa Tanoai led all Pleasant Grove scorers with 15 points, followed by McCallister with 14 points, which included four three-pointers, and Kruger who had 12 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots.

"In years past we would have to rely on one guy for our points," said Coach McCallister. "This year the story of our team has been how balanced we are. It makes us a tougher team to defend and gives up so many more options on offense."