Spartan boys add two more wins to their stats

By GARY ARRINGTON Sports Writer

Emery boys lead region 12 at 3-0
The Emery High Spartan boy’s basketball team won twice last week and now lead region 12 with a 3-0 record. Emery defeated Juab on Wednesday night at Juab 41-38 and came home Friday night and defeated Richfield 76-57 at the Spartan Center.
Juab proved to be a much tougher game than anticipated for the Spartans and Emery was in jeopardy of picking up its first region loss for much of the game.
Juab came out and reminded me of the way that Princeton University used to play basketball. They would slow play down by being very deliberate in their attack on the basket. Juab, it seemed, would make around 15 passes around the perimeter before they would really ever get in to their offensive schemes for the game. It was kind of boring at times.
Emery fell behind 11-7 in the first quarter and then had a good second quarter to lead at the half 22-21. Nevin Jensen led Emery at the half with nine points while Colton Barnett had eight points and Tanner Procarione had five points.
Emery scored their first points of the third quarter with three minutes gone and then didn’t score again in the period until there was only 1:33 left in the period. Juab only scored six points and led after the third quarter at 27-26. Emery switched to a man-to-man defense in the third and seemed to take Juab out of their game plan even though trailed by one point.
In the final period, Emery tied the score at 33-33 with 5:18 left in the period on a Jensen 3-pointer. Emery then took the lead with 4:57 left on a free throw by Jensen. Emery would never trail the rest of the game. Juab hit a field goal early in the period and then never hit another as the rest of their points came at the free throw line. Juab was nine for 12 in the final period.
After Mark Guymon hit a 3-pointer, Emery went one for six at the free throw line to close out the game and to keep us a little more on edge than was really necessary right till the end.
Jensen led the team with 15 points; Barnett added 12 points and Procarione scored 11 points. Guymon was the only other Spartan to score and he finished with three points.
Against Richfield, Emery got off to a quick start at 20-10 and then led after one period 20-15 as Richfield scored the last five points of the quarter. Richfield then scored the first three points of the second quarter and Emery’s lead was down to 20-18. In the second quarter, Emery rebuilt their lead to 28-20 only to see it evaporate one more time at 32-30. Emery then scored the last seven points of the second period and led at the half 39-30.
Although the lead for Emery went up and down in the second half, it never went below 12 points again. Emery went on an 11-4 run to start the second half. Emery led after the third quarter at 61-48.
Nevin and Tanner each finished the game with a double double to lead the Spartans to the victory. Jensen scored 18 points to lead the team in scoring and also dished out 11 assists. Nevin was 11 for 12 at the free throw line in the game and also had two steals. Procarione scored 13 points in the game and also pulled down 14 rebounds for his double double. Tanner also had two assists and a blocked shot.
Colton Barnett and Mark Guymon also finished in double figures in scoring for the game with 11 points each. Barnett was five for eight at the free throw line, had five rebounds, three steals and a blocked shot. Guymon was three for four at the line with a pair of 3-pointers and also had two steals.
Jake Fortner scored nine points off the bench with three 3-pointers. Derek Tuttle, TJ Furner and Kashe Jewkes all scored four points in the game. Ty Benson scored two points in the win.
The Emery boys will host Delta this Friday night. Delta defeated Richfield 36-33 a week ago.