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Orem • Orem coach Golden Holt expected spectators to classify Tuesday night as an ugly low-scoring ballgame featuring numerous turnovers and sporadic offensive execution.

But to Holt it was anything but ugly. Keeping the long-term goal of winning in February behind elite defense, Orem's 65-52 win against fellow Region 7 heavyweight Olympus was "a thing of beauty."

"I've described us as Clydesdales this year," Holt said on the Tigers' homecourt. "We're not thoroughbreds; we're not up-and-down, high-flyers. It starts with our defense, and on a good Olympus team, they played some defense."

After opening the first quarter on a 9-0 run by holding the Titans scoreless for more than five minutes, Hayden Young's eight-point outburst propelled the Tigers (14-3) to a 21-7 advantage with 4:51 remaining in the first half. Young netted 19 points.

Will Clark and Noah Johnson added six more to Orem's total shortly thereafter, while Olympus piled more combined turnovers and air balls than total points (9), cushioning the Tigers' lead to 16 at the intermission.

"We started on a box-and-one on [Olympus leading-scorer Jake] Lindsey," said Clark, who finished with a team-best 22 points. "We just made their other guys shoot shots. They hit a couple, but nine points in the first half is pretty good."

As Olympus directed its attention to stopping perimeter attempts, Orem's 6-foot-10 center Richard Harward flourished with more room to operate, correlating to seven third-quarter points.

"He's an emphasis every possession," Holt said of Harward, who scored all of his 13 points in the final two quarters, including knocking down four straight attempts from the charity stripe.

The Titans continued to climb back into respectability following the dreadful first-half performance. Lindsey, who struggled to locate his jumper in the opening 16 minutes, ignited several runs, ultimately finishing with a team-best 20 points.

"Jake is such a good player because he makes his teammates better," Holt said. "We just wanted to try our best to contain him, but then defend the kick-outs. They're inside-out with Jake penetrating."

Miles Keller and Nate Fox were the beneficiaries of Lindsey's distribution, combining for 26 points, mostly from beyond the arc with six 3-pointers, in the second half.

The Titans (13-4) opened the fourth quarter on an 8-2 run to migrate into manageable territory before Clark calmly defused the growing momentum with consecutive uncontested triples, inflating the cushion back to 16 with 5:05 remaining in regulation.

"You can't back into a win against a good Olympus team," Holt said. "Six minutes to go, you've got to keep attacking. Will was the difference in the fourth quarter."

Olympus pulled within single digits for the first time since 9-0 with 35.1 seconds remaining on Lindsey's 3-pointer, trimming the fat to 61-52.

"We've always been ranked with [Olympus]," Clark said. "It proves we really are a legit contender in 4A."

Both teams return to action Friday. The Titans will look to avenge an earlier loss to archrival Skyline, while Orem travels to Corner Canyon

Twitter: @trevorphibbs