This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Saratoga Springs • The Lone Peak boys have been Utah high school basketball royalty for much of the past dozen years while Westlake seems to have found its best program this year.
After earning an intense 84-72 road victory against the Thunder on Tuesday night to take control of Region 4, it might have been the Knights' experience under pressure that proved the difference.
Westlake rallied at the start of the third quarter to move within 54-52 before two things happened in a game that got physical and chippy.
First, the Knights seemed to know how to react to the pressure and the intensity. They put the game away with a 15-2 run.
Second, Lone Peak has the state's best player in Frank Jackson. And he caught fire in a second half where he scored 18 of his 28 points.
"With a player like Frank, people go to a box and one thinking Frank is the only guy," said Lone Peak's Chad Pollard, who scored 14 of his 16 points in the first half, including four 3-pointers as the Knights made 10 from beyond the arc. "We space the floor and knock down shots. That makes us a hard team to beat."
The fact that Lone Peak had five players in double figures proved the top-ranked Knights are more than the Frank Jackson show. In fact, the Duke commit was quiet for much of the game.
"Sometimes it takes a little to get him going because he has been there a lot," said Lone Peak coach David Evans about his star. "But when the competition gets tough, he goes."
And the competition has been tough for the Knights, who played St. Francis (Ga.) in Boston and then battled Lehi, American Fork, Pleasant Grove and Westlake in intense rivalry games.
Pollard said that competition brings the Knights closer together.
"We struggle communicating at times but when it gets like that, we all hold up together really well," he said.
As for Westlake, which lost its second game of the season, the Thunder showed moments of being able to challenge Lone Peak. Asa McCord, who finished with 31 points, ranks among the best in the state. Maizen Fausett added 17 and sixth-man Chaz Ah You contributed 12.
But a combination of foul trouble and the fact that Lone Peak has been in these situations before doomed the home team in what might have been the biggest basketball game in the school's history.
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Storylines
R Frank Jackson scores 18 of his 28 points in the second half as Lone Peak takes control of Region 4.
• Asa McCord scores 31 points for Westlake.