The Hive Sports

by Alan Judson

The 2023 5 for the Fight National Hoopfest was held in Pleasant Grove to kick off Thanksgiving week. There was no shortage of star power, electric moments, and memorable performances. From the Alta Hawks earning a massive upset to kick it off, #1 nationally rated recruit Cooper Flagg with his #1 nationally rated team Montverde Academy on Day 1, a national championship rematch on Day 2, and competitive in-state matchups it was a great way to wrap up the tournament. It’s time to recap everything that happened over the three day Hoopfest.

Day 1

The Alta Hawks kicked off the tournament in a matchup versus the #10 Sunrise Christian Academy Buffaloes, a rematch from last season’s Hoopfest, and Sunrise was looking for revenge after the Hawks pulled off a massive upset last season. However, the Hawks started the game off strong and led 35-14 at halftime. This lead was in a large part due to the Reiser twins who scored a combined 27 points. The stalled Buffaloes offense woke up after the break, scoring 21 points in the third quarter, but Alta nearly matched the effort, despite a moment of worry when star Ute commit Jaxon Johnson went down, and took a 54-35 lead into the fourth quarter. With Johnson returning to the game, the Hawks scored 21 fourth quarter points and took down the Buffaloes, for the second straight season. The final score was 75-56. Jaxon Johnson led the scoring with 28 points (6-8 from three) for the Hawks with Jeremiah Green, the 48th ranked 2025 prospect, scoring 16 for Sunrise Christian.

Following the upset, the Lone Peak Knights took on the Wolverines of Simeon Career Academy. After the first quarter, Lone Peak led by a score 17-14. In the second quarter, the Knights continued to pull away and took a 42-33 lead into the break. The third quarter was more of the same until the halfway point of the quarter. Simeon Guards Rashad McKinnie and Lorenzo Shields, who finished with 23 and 22 points respectively, led a push that cut the deficit to 54-49, at the conclusion of the third. The Wolverines continued to make late pushes, but in the final two minutes it was the Knights, led by consistency from the free-throw line, as well as Thom Kramers scoring 25 points, that led to a 72-66 victory.

It was then time for defending national champion Link Academy to face off against Canyon International Academy. It was Canyon International who took a 19-15 lead at the conclusion of the first quarter, but it was only a matter of time before the national champions took over. Canyon International was outscored 21-8 in the second quarter and never held the lead after the implosion. Link outscored the opposition 32-14 in the paint over the course of their 74-60 victory.

The final game of day one was the highly anticipated matchup between #1 Montverde Academy (FL) and #7 Wasatch Academy (UT). The gym was beyond maximum capacity as #1 recruit and Duke commit Cooper Flagg led Montverde in the nightcap. The Eagles of Montverde came out of the gate firing, shooting 21-35 from the field in the first half. The Tigers never had a chance to catch up as they fell behind 49-23 at halftime. The second half continued Montverde’s dominance as Cooper Flagg (19/9/6), Liam McNeely (21 points), and the Eagles left the arena with a dominating 88-53 victory.

Day 2

The morning kicked off with Simeon Career Academy playing their second game of the tournament vs. Rock Creek Christian Academy. The morning started off slow for the Wolverines as they were trailing 19-3 after one quarter. Simeon shot 1-14 from the field in the first quarter, which led to their horrid 25.9% percentage over the whole game. However, the second quarter for the Wolverines was much smoother as they outscored Rock Creek 17-8 and only took a 7-point deficit into the half. However, after the break is right when Junior Sean Van Dom decided it was his time to shine. Van Dom dropped a 10 point, 12 rebound double-double and did the majority of his work after the break. Van Dom as well as benchmate Jerome Williams led the Eagles to a 60-43 victory.

It was then time for Utah’s #1 Corner Canyon Chargers (minus star-player Brody Kozlowski) to take on the Wheeler Wildcats out of Georgia. A back-and-forth first half resulted in a one-score 35-32 Chargers lead at halftime, led by Bryton Valdez’s 14 first-half points. To open up the third quarter, the Wildcats went on a 11-0 run that ended thanks to a pair of Isaac Neibuar free throws with 2:01 remaining. Corner Canyon proceeded to hold the Wildcats scoreless for the remainder of the quarter and entered the fourth in a 3-point hole. In the fourth, the Wildcats slowly pulled away and with under a minute left it was a Kota Suttle Jr. fast break layup that put the game where it would conclude, as a Wheeler 57-49 victory.

The Orangeville Prep Bears faced the Wasatch Academy Tigers in the middle game of Tuesday’s slate. The first half was a competitive back-and-forth affair with both teams making their own respective pushes, but it was the Tigers who ended the half on a 14-5 run, along with a 34-30 advantage, led by Isiah Harwell who finished the half with 6 points, en route to a 18 point game total. John Mobley concluded the third quarter with a tough and one as the Tigers took a 59-45 lead into the fourth. A near even fourth quarter meant the game fell to the Tigers in a 76-66 victory as they left Pleasant Grove with a 1-1 record.

American Fork faced #1 Montverde Academy Tuesday evening in a game that went just as the rankings suggested. American Fork struggled to get anything going. The bane of this American Fork team was turnovers as they concluded the game with 17, compared to 11 assists. Asa Newell and Kayden Allen led the scoring for Montverde with 12 each. The American Fork leading scorer was Blake Rawson with a 10/7/4 stat line.

The final game of Tuesday’s slate, a National Title rematch from 2022, was between the #2 Link Academy Lions and the #9 Arizona Compass Prep Dragons. Link Academy started off strong both offensive and defensively. After one quarter, the Lions led 22-6 and had forced 7 turnovers. The Dragons continued their struggles in the second quarter as they shot 33% from the field. Meanwhile, the Lions were feasting on poor defense and fast break opportunities and took a 42-17 lead into halftime. Link continued their dominance throughout the game and defeated Arizona Compass 77-53, led by Jasper Johnson’s 18 points.

Day 3

The host Pleasant Grove Vikings kicked off Day 3 as they faced the Jordan Beetdiggers. The Beetdiggers kept a lead until about the midway point of the first quarter, after which it was all Vikings. Pleasant Grove bested last season’s high of 84 with a 92-point effort in a 20-point win. The Vikings’ new style, which consists of lots of 3-pointers and full-court press, was successful in their first game as they held Jordan to just 12-first quarter points. The Vikings shot just under 40 percent from three and were led by Clay Hansen in scoring with 12. Meanwhile, the Beetdiggers were led by big man Ayden Doyle who scored 19 in their effort.

The Sunrise Christian Academy Buffaloes took on the Arizona Compass Prep Dragons in the following game. The Buffaloes took a 16-14 lead into the second quarter, but then it was time for 4-star Jeremiah Fears (19 points), 3-star Moses Hipps (15 points), and the Dragons to take over. Controlling the game from that point onward, the Dragons never allowed Sunrise to get closer than 8-points to their lead and that resulted in a 66-54 Dragons victory. Kansas State commit David Castillo led the Buffaloes in scoring with 16.

The third game of the day pitted the Wheeler Wildcats and Rock Creek Christian Academy against each other. Wheeler began the game shooting lights out in the first quarter, going 8-13 from the field and leading 23-14 after one. The second quarter was evenly matched as Rock Creek cooled off but entered halftime leading 36-28. The third quarter continued the second quarters action as Wheeler, led by Josh Hill (30 points), outscored Rock Creek 20-18, but still trailed 54-48. Finally, in the fourth quarter, Rock Creek began to pull away, with much thanks to Sean van Dorn Jr (29 points) and finished the game with a 81-70 victory.

Following the battle, the Cyprus Pirates took on the Springville Red Devils in an in-state matchup. A slow first half for both teams resulted in a 38-35 halftime score in favor of the Pirates. In the third quarter the tale continued with a 49-47 lead for Cyprus at the conclusion of the quarter, with both teams struggling from three. The game stayed two-scores or less until with 2.5 seconds remaining Mason Hansen scored his 15th point via free throw and put Springville up 58-57, where the game finished. Springville’s very own Andrew Miller lead all scorers with 26.

Another in-state matchup between the Timpview Thunderbirds and the Lone Peak Knights followed the Red Devils victory. The first quarter was very back-and-forth until the Thunderbirds went on a 11-2 run in the final 5:44 and entered the second quarter with a 16-9 lead, which they increased to 31-16 after Lone Peak only managed seven points in the quarter. The Thunderbirds continued to dominate throughout the second half and won the ballgame 66-43 in large part due to Den Reuckert’s 25 point effort.

The in-state matchups continued as the Corner Canyon Chargers took on the 5A Orem Tigers. A low-scoring, competitive, first half resulted in a Chargers 21-16 lead going into the halftime break. After three, the Chargers and Tigers were a combined 0-15 from three, but the Chargers maintained a 40-34 lead heading into the final quarter. The Tigers had the game tied but a 3:07 scoring drought in the back half of the fourth quarter ultimately cost them the game. Bryton Valdez (17 points) and the Chargers took a tough 55-47 victory.

In the final game of the Hoopfest the American Fork Cavemen took on the Alta Hawks. A tit-for-tat first quarter ended in an Ace Reiser buzzer beater layup and a 14-13 Hawks lead. The Hawks had a similar ending to the first half but it was a Jaxon Johnson buzzer-beater 3-pointer this time that gave the Hawks a 29-26 halftime lead.The third quarter continued the back and forth play but it was Jaxon Johnson catching fire (28 total points) that gave the Hawks a 5-point edge at the conclusion of the quarter. The Hawks faced a clearly gassed Caveman team in the fourth quarter and it was the Hawks relentless energy that gave them a 71-60 victory as they left Hoopfest 2-0. Weber State commit Tiger Cuff led the 0-2 Cavemen in scoring with a 25/9/4 stat line.

Featured image courtesy Alan Judson