Emery Spartans split games down south

By GARY ARRINGTON Sports writer

Emery traveled south to play two games last week and came away with a split road trip as they defeated Desert Hills on Thursday night 60-46 before losing to the ranked Hurricane Tigers 51-43.
In Emery’s first ball games of the season, they showed promise as they won one road game and came close in a second game against a very good opponent that is ranked in both Salt Lake newspapers. In the first game in St George, Emery played good defense and shot the ball well as they hit 41 percent of their shots. In the second game, Emery had trouble getting the ball to go in. Emery shot only 23 percent in this game.
Desert Hills got out to the early lead in their game as they led 16-13 at the end of the first quarter and 32-28 at the half. Emery cut the lead to one in the third quarter trailing 40-39 and then went on a tear in the fourth quarter to win big. They won the period 21-6.
Nevin Jensen led the Spartan effort with 17 points, 10 assists and 4 rebounds. Colton Barnett scored 14 points, had 7 rebounds and blocked 2 shots. Karson Jensen scored 10 points, led the team with 11 rebounds and led the team with 6 steals.
Tanner Procarione scored 6 points, as did Jason Giles. Cameron Hansen scored 5 points and Brett Mecham scored 2 points. Mecham also had 4 rebounds.
Head Coach Todd Jeffs, “We went on a roll in the fourth quarter. We got after them on defense and shot the ball really well.”
Against Hurricane, Emery managed to make only 12 of 51 shot attempts in the game after hitting 23 of 56 the night before. Emery did improve at the free throw line as they shot 76 percent on Friday night after shooting 64 percent the night before.
Nevin Jensen led the team in scoring again as he scored 9 points, dished out 3 assists and pulled down 2 rebounds and had 1 steal.
Barnett added 8 points and led the team with 10 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. Karson Jensen scored 7 points and had 6 rebounds. Procarione also scored 7 points, added a rebound and had two steals. Giles added 5 points, Gatlan Huntington added 3 points with Mecham and Hansen scoring 2 points each.
Emery got down early in the game as they trailed 13-5 at the end of the first quarter but the Spartans then played them even throughout the rest of the game.
Emery travels to ALA on Tuesday night before hosting the Coal Country Classic this Friday and Saturday nights. Besides Emery, Uintah, Carbon and Canyon View will play. Varsity games start at 6 pm on Friday night and 5 pm on Saturday night.