| The Spartans look for the rebound in basketball action against the Cowboys. |
Before the biggest crowd of the season, the Emery Spartans survived the Grantsville Cowboys 71-70 to take their record to 11-0. With the word spreading among basketball fans that this Emery squad is entertaining and fun to watch, the Spartans found a new way to excite their fans, lose a big lead and almost the game.
After a two-week vacation for the holidays, the Spartans came out a little rusty in this game with Grantsville. The Cowboys had only won three games so far this year.
Emery led 18-8 after the first quarter and seemed to have come through the break okay. Grantsville, who defeated the Ogden Tigers the night before, couldn’t stop these Spartans in the first quarter.
The second quarter though, belonged more to the Cowboys than to the Spartans. Grantsville outscored Emery in the second quarter by six and Emery led only 33-29.
In the third quarter, Emery raced out to a 45-29 lead as they scored the first 12 points of the quarter enroute to a 29-point quarter and a 62-45 lead. Brandon Hansen had 10 points in the quarter and Chandler Pearson had eight to lead the way.
Then the fourth quarter came and Emery struggled. Oh how they struggled! Grantsville started the quarter by outscoring the Spartans 12-2. It only got worse from there. Emery couldn’t buy a basket and the Cowboys couldn’t miss as they outscored Emery 23-3 to now lead 68-65 with two minutes left in the game.
Emery then scored four straight points to reclaim the lead 69-68 with 1:10 left in the contest. The Cowboys then were content to run the clock down looking for the last shot. They were fouled on a lay-up attempt and scored two points off free throws with 10 seconds left, to now lead 70-69.
With the game and the undefeated season on the line, Bowie Jeffs took the inbounds pass and dribbled the length of the court and scored and was fouled with four seconds left. Emery led 71-70 when Jeffs missed the free throw (maybe intentionally) and Grantsville threw up a prayer that went unanswered. Emery survived.
Bowie Jeffs led four Spartans in double figures with 20 points. Chandler Pearson had 17, Brandon Hansen had 14 and Seth Powell had 12. Curt Jensen and Zeke Atwood had four apiece.
The Spartans are now ready for region play and open at home tomorrow against the Carbon Dinos. Game time is 7 p.m. See you there.