Viewmont gains repect in beating Granger

On Friday, Feb. 3, I attended the Viewmont at Granger boys basketball game. The purpose was to write an article for this year's Viewmont basketball yearbook. You can see the story below.


By Bruce Smith
Matchup

It’s about time someone said it. The Viewmont Vikings are on a roll.

Coming into their game with Granger with a 7-9 overall record, the Vikings were 5-0 but not getting much respect. Friday night, they earned it.

Haden Heath scored 14 points and McKay Butler came off the bench and provided an essential spark as the Vikings whipped Granger 69-39 and remained on top of the Region 2 standings.

The win should turn a few heads. Viewmont may not have the athletic ability of some of 5A’s best, but the Vikings played better as a team than anybody.

“Thanks. It’s good to hear that,” said Viewmont coach Jeff Emery. “We had a good game, but we have to get better defensively. We are starting to stop people. We held them (the Lancers) to 35 percent. I can live with that.”

The Vikings aren’t necessarily tall, and perhaps not as athletic as a top team should be, but they make up for it with exuberance and spirited play. That was noticeable from the start. Viewmont never trailed. Heath scored six of the Vikings’ first eight points, but the real difference occurred when Butler came onto the court.

Butler, 6-foot sophomore, scored all 13 of his points in a short span in the second quarter. In fact, he had a highlight reel starting with about 5:20 left in the second quarter. In a short span, he smothered a shot by Granger’s Nick Wetenkamp, raced after the loose ball, corralled it and dribbled downcourt, where he made a beautiful, twisting layup and was fouled.

Less than 30 seconds later, he scored on another amazing play that even impressed the Granger fans.

“We have a lot of players stepping up,” said Emery nonchalantly. “Butler is starting to come around. He’s starting to learn to play at this level.”

Butler had another great game in Viewmont’s home win over Granger earlier this season. This time, on the Lancers’ home court, the Vikings were more dominant. A sign of improvement?

“We’re playing well right now,” said Emery. “We have a long ways to go if we want to play with the best, and people are expecting us now that we’re on top of our region.”

The Vikings played without junior McKay Richins, who suffered an appendicitis a few days before the game and is likely out at least two weeks. Granger was without seniorguard Mo Valladolid, the team’s second-leading scorer, and sophomore point guard Israel Tademy.

The Lancers’ offense was centered around senior Isaiah Tademy, who scored 19 points but Viewmont harassed him with various zone and box-and one defenses. Taylor Pili added nine points.

What hurt Granger was its 24 turnovers. Most were courtesy of Viewmont’s active defense, which smothered Kearns, Taylorsville and West in previous games.

None of that will matter next Tuesday, when the Vikings play host to Hunter in a game that will likely decide the region title.

“It’s a big one, that’s for sure,” Emery said. “We’ll see what happens.”

GAME SUMMARY

Viewmont 15 27 14 13 - 69
Granger 10 14 7 8 - 39

VIEWMONT (69) – Travis Tilner 2-5 0-0 5, Tanner Gamble 3-5 0-0 9, Brody Bagshaw 0-6 0-0 0, Jarom Tye 3-6 0-0 7, Haden Heath 7-10 0-0 14, McKay Butler 5-7 1-1 13, Trent Anderson 4-9 2-2 10, Aaron Dalton 2-2 0-0 4, Aaron Hewlett 1-1 0-0 2, Brody Howell 0-0 0-0 0, Spencer Nash 0-1 0-0 0, Michael Steinicke 0-2 0-0 0, Doug Hintze 0-0 0-0 0, David Black 1-1 -0 2, Jordan Alldredge 1-1 1-1 4, Brad Stafford 0-0 0-1 0, McKay Johnson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-56 4-5 69.
GRANGER (39) – Arob Mandang 1-4 0-0 3, Isaiah Tademy 6-20 3-4 19, Taylor Pili 3-3 3-3 9, Nick Wetenkamp 1-6 0-0 2, Zack Ashman 1-2 0-2 2, Makol Mawien 1-1 0-1 2, Alonso Delatorre 0-0 1-2 1, Davion Jones 0-0 1-2 1, Gabe Reyes 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-36 8-14 39.
Total fouls: Viewmont 19, Granger 12. Fouled out: Pili. Technical fouls: None.
Three-point shooting: Viewmont 7-15 (Gamble 3, Butler 2, Tiner, Tye). Granger 5-16 (Tademy 4, Mandang).
Rebounds: Viewmont 30 (Anderson 5), Granger 26 (Tademy 6).
Turnovers: Viewmont 13, Granger 24.