| Emery calls timeout to try to control the loose ball. |
The Emery High Spartan boys basketball team finished the first half of region play last week by splitting their two games. On Wednesday, the Spartans traveled to Delta and defeated the Rabbits 59-48. On Friday, they faced Carbon at home in the Spartan Center and suffered their second region loss of the season 75-67.
At Delta, Emery stormed out of the gate to an impressive 20-8 first quarter lead to make the Rabbits play catch up all night. All five starters scored in that opening period as the Spartans were sharp and aggressive. Dempsey Jeffs paced the Spartan scoring in the period with 6 points on three field goals.
The second period also belonged to Emery as they again outscored the Rabbits, this time 13-7 to grab an 18-point half time lead. Jeffs added another 5 points in the quarter.
The third quarter belonged to Dave Justice as he scored all the Emery points. Justice had 4 field goals and was 4 for 4 at the free throw line to score all 12 of Emery’s points. Delta had 16 points in the period to cut the Emery lead to 14.
Emery was outscored in the final period 17-14 but still came away with their third region win of the season.
Justice led Emery with 18 points while Jeffs contributed 13 points. Also in double figures was Darrin Winn with 11 points. Vic Rosen had 9 points, Josh Eden had 3 points and Kyler Edgehouse finished with 5 points.
Emery was 10 for 13 at the free throw line while Delta was 20 for 28 at the line.
In the Carbon game, Emery lost for just the fourth time in the last 35 meetings, dating back to 1988. Carbon came into the game undefeated in region play while the Spartans had lost to Juan Diego. Friday night’s game proved to be Carbon’s night.
Once in a while, you face an opponent that is just destined to win and Friday night it was Carbon’s turn. Leading the Dinos in scoring were Jordan Moynier with 23 points and Chase Julian with 22 points. Moynier has an 8.5 scoring average while Julian is slightly better with a 10.75 average. In this ball game though, they could not seem to miss. Emery could not stop Carbon’s offense and could not conquer Carbon’s defense until the fourth quarter.
Despite this being Carbon’s night, despite the Spartans not playing very well, Emery was still in this game right until the end. They had an opportunity to get to within 2 points with less than two minutes to go but just could not get the shots to fall.
Emery was outscored in the opening quarter 16-10, outscored in the second quarter 14-13 and outscored in the third quarter 20-14 to give
Carbon the lead at 50-37. Emery won the final quarter 30-25.
Winn led the Emery scoring with 21 points including 8 in the last quarter. Despite not having his best game of the season, Winn also pulled down 15 rebounds. Justice scored 9 points in the final quarter to give him 20 points for the game. Rosen kicked in 9 points and had 7 rebounds.
Also scoring for Emery were Edgehouse with 5 points, all in the last period, Eden with 4 points, Karson Jensen, a freshman, and Kade Jones with 3 points and Jeffs with 2 points. Jensen and Jones saw considerable playing time because Jeffs, Winn and Rosen were in foul trouble all night.
Emery shot 46 percent from the field on 2-point shots, 18 percent behind the 3-point line and 62 percent at the free throw line on 20 of 32.
After the game, Head Coach Todd Jeffs told his team that “We have a lot of ball left, let’s get ready.” Coach Jeffs felt that despite the team not playing well that they were still in the game.Emery has only one game this week, as they will host North Sanpete on Friday night. Game time is about 7 p.m.