After having opened the region season with three of four games on the road, the Emery High boy’s basketball team came home and defeated Juan Diego and Carbon in grand style.
On Wednesday night, Emery defeated region leader Juan Diego 72-64 in a game that ran the emotional gamut. Juan Diego had breezed through their first four region games and would be a test for the 3-1 Spartans.
On Friday night, Emery played region rival Carbon High for the second time this season before a packed arena and proceeded to score the most points that the Spartans have put on the scoreboard in many a moon. Emery defeated the Dinos 95-62.
Against Carbon, Emery scored six of the first 10 points in the game before the Dinos scored the next seven and eventually led at the end of the first quarter 15-14. Karson Jensen started the game off with two straight 3-pointers to lead the effort for Emery.
Emery scored the first points of the second quarter to grab the lead and Carbon tied the game at 25-25. Emery then scored the next 11 points to lead 36-25 before eventually leading at the half 49-37. Nevin Jensen played maybe the best quarter in Spartan history as he scored 19 points. He hit four straight 3-pointers, had a driving lay-up that fell and went five for six at the free throw line. Colton Barnett did score seven points in the 35-point quarter.
Karson Jensen scored seven points for Emery in the third quarter as the Spartans extended their lead to 65-46. Not satisfied with running time off the clock, Emery would score 30 more points in the fourth quarter as Jason Giles would score 10 points and Nevin would add eight more.
Nevin finished the game with 27 points and five assists. Giles finished with 16 points and Karson scored 13 points and pulled down nine rebounds. Barnett and Gatlan Huntington each scored nine points with Brett Mecham scoring seven points. Tanner Procarione scored five points, Cameron Hansen scored four points, Kashe Potter hit a three and Mark Guymon scored two points.
Emery shot 57 percent from the field in the game and shot 65 percent for the night from behind the 3-point line. They hit 14 three’s in the game.
After the game Head Coach Todd Jeffs, “Our press sped up the game which was then in our favor. Once we got rolling, we never stopped. That was a fun game.” Coach Jeffs couldn’t stop smiling at the effort of his team.
Against the Soaring Eagles, Emery took a small first quarter lead at 17-12 as Karson Jensen again led the team at the beginning as he would score seven points. After falling behind 6-4, the Spartans went on a 13-0 run to grab a comfortable lead at 17-6. Juan Diego then scored the last six points of the period.
Neither team seemed to be able to score in the second quarter as Emery won the period 8-7 after Juan Diego scored the first four points to start the quarter and cut the Emery lead to 17-16. Emery led at the half 25-19. At this point Emery fans were cautiously optimistic.
With Huntington hitting a 3-pointer with 2:15 gone in the third period Emery would grab a double digit lead at 34-23. Emery would then lead 44-27, 51-31 and would lead after three quarters at 55-35. Emery fans were now gleeful as their team was winning big against one of the better teams in 3-A ball.
The glee quickly vanished in the final period. After leading 57-26, Juan Diego went on a roll and cut the lead to 60-50 as they outscored Emery 14-3 over a 2:00 time frame. Juan Diego cut the lead further 62-55 with 3:04 to play and then the Eagles got the score to 65-64 with about a 1:10 to go. It was not looking good for Emery at this point and fans were baffled at how their big lead had vanished.
At the time, little did we know that Juan Diego would not score again. Nevin Jensen hit a pair of free throws to get the score to 70-64 and Jason Giles hit a basket to get Emery to their final score of 72-64 as the Emery fans let out a huge sigh of relief that the win was Emery’s.
Nevin led the way with 18 points including six for six at the free throw line. Colton Barnett had 11 points in third quarter and finished with 16 points for the game and Karson also finished in double figures with 15 points. Giles and Huntington each scored seven points with Hansen and Procarione scoring four points each. Mecham scored one point. This game was tied only once at 6-6 and Emery never let the lead go after they got it at 9-6.
Emery travels to Mt. Pleasant this Wednesday night and then will host Salem Hills on Friday night as they seek revenge for a 2-point loss at their place. Game times are 7 p.m.
Spartans win big at home against region foes
"Colton Barnett makes his way to the hoop."