Spartan mens basketball fourth in state tourney

By GARY ARRINGTON Sports writer

Last week, the Emery High boy’s basketball team continued action in the 3-A state tournament at Utah Valley University. On Thursday, despite trailing for more than three quarters of the game, the Spartans pulled out a victory over Cedar High School by outscoring the Redmen 12-2 in the final quarter. Final score was 40-33.
Despite numerous unforced turnovers throughout the game, Emery hung close and tied the score with 3:38 left in the fourth quarter at 33-33 on a pair of free throws by Derek Tuttle. Forty seconds later, Emery grabbed the lead for good on a basket by Tanner Procarione. Nevin Jensen then would score a lay-up with :55 seconds left, Nevin followed with two free throws with :13 seconds left and then Mark Guymon finished the scoring with another free throw with four seconds left.
Colton Barnett fouled out of the game with four fouls but was still the leading scorer for the Spartans in the game. Throughout this game and the whole tournament basically, the scorekeeping and the clock running was abysmal. Barnett was given the foul of a Cedar player but the refs refused to change even when Cedar said the book was wrong. Barnett finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals. Jensen also finished in double figures with 13 points. Procarione scored six points, Guymon scored four points, Tuttle scored two points and TJ Furner scored one point.
Emery then played Judge Memorial in the semifinals and lost 56-46. Emery fell behind 6-0 to start the game and never led in this game. Each quarter they would narrow their deficit only to see Judge take it back by the end of the period. In the first quarter Emery trailed 6-8 only to trail at the end of the period 14-8.
In the second quarter, Emery narrowed Judge’s lead to 21-14 only to trail 25-14. In the third quarter, Emery climbed to within seven points only to trail by 15 at the end of third 38-23. Emery never made a serious run in the fourth quarter.
Barnett was the star of this game as he outplayed everyone else on the floor. We had him with 20 points scored and 20 rebounds in the game. Barnett also had three blocked shots and three steals. More importantly, he did not foul out in this game.
Procarione and Jensen also finished the game in double figures with 10 points each. Also scoring for the Spartans were Ty Benson with three points, Jake Fortner with two points and Furner with one point.
Emery then played Hurricane on Saturday in a game that would decide third and fourth place. Emery lost this game 76-59. Emery’s last lead of the game came at 23-22 in the second quarter. Emery cut the deficit to 45-42 at the end of the third quarter but the Tigers outscored the Spartans in the final period 31-17 to put the game away and seal their win.
Jensen was the leading scorer in this game with 19 points followed by Procarione and Barnett with 10 points each. Benson added eight points, Kashe Potter scored seven points, Fortner scored three points and Furner scored two points. Emery finished the season with a 19-6 record, a 9-1 region record along with the region championship and a fourth place finish at state.