Entertainment value: Lone Peak showcases its fun style of play in a 75-46 win over Pleasant Grove | News, Sports, Jobs

Lone Peak junior forward Crew Fotheringham admitted to being a bit stunned about a certain development during his team’s first game of the season, a 66-58 loss.

His almost always affable and enthusiastic new Coach Izzy Ingle actually got after him and his teammates for the first time he can remember since Ingle arrived as Lone Peak’s new head basketball coach over the offseason.

“He hadn’t yelled at us for the first four months, and then, all of a sudden in our game against Layton Christian, I heard a voice from him that I’d never heard before,” Fotheringham related. “It was crazy, and really sort of startled me and my teammates. It was scary, I’m not going to lie. He just went from his usual one to 10, just like that. He got after us good.”

Ingle getting after his players is certain to increase as the season wears on, and as games get more important and subsequently intense. But as for Monday’s game, which saw Lone Peak blow past Pleasant Grove 75-46, Ingle was generally all smiles.

“It’s a new system, and they’re all buying into the new system, and they played really well together tonight,” Ingle said. “It’s not easy learning a new system, but they’ve bought in. We need some work, obviously, and especially on the defensive end. But I like what we’re showing out there so far.”

The Knights were led by Saxon Young and his team-high 21 points in the win over the Vikings with Fotheringham adding 13 points and four steals. The entire team had moments, pushing the ball up the court relentlessly in order to operate Ingle’s new system effectively, a system they’ve all seemed to gravitate toward enthusiastically.

“It’s very fun. You’re shooting, you’re running, and you have a lot of freedom, so it’s been really good,” Fotheringham said. “It’s been a nice change and I think we’re all going to benefit from what he’s coaching us to do and how to play.”

“Our number one thing is to win championships and to be entertaining,” Ingle added. “We think basketball should be entertaining. People pay money to come see a show, so we need to give them a show. We like to push the pace, and we did that really well tonight, I felt. We want to share the ball and play the right way, and then push it as much as possible.”

It’s a style of play Fotheringham more than welcomed when he first heard of his team’s coaching change, and if anything, it’s become even more welcome since Ingle first arrived at Lone Peak.

“He’s been a really fun coach to play for so far, and I sort of expected that when I first heard he was going to be our coach,” he said. “I was excited for a change. What we had before was successful, and I’m thankful for the coaches I’ve had, but it’s been a really good change so far for all of us.”

With regards to the makeup of this year’s Lone Peak it, it features a lot of talent, beginning with the guard play led by Young, a frontcourt led by players like Camden Broadhead and standout combo players like Fotheringham.

“It’s hard to focus on just one player when I’m asked about the standouts on this team,” Ingle said. “It’s Lone Peak, and there’s a lot of talent here. There’s always so much potential here with the great community and players that come from this area, and I think we’re just scratching the surface of the potential we have here in this program.”

Indeed Lone Peak has been one of the most storied programs in the Utah prep landscape in recent history, with Ingle and his players hoping to recapture the stature of the standout teams of past years.

“There’s a lot of expectations here at Lone Peak, but no one has higher expectations than I have for myself,” Ingle said. “I expect my teams to win championships every year, and at Lone Peak we’re definitely capable of doing that every single year. So the expectations are big here, but they match up with what I’ve always expected from myself and the teams I coach. So I think it’s worked out well so far and I’m very excited for the opportunity to coach this program.”