Spartan men win one and lose one as season opens

By GARY ARRINGTON Sports writer

The 2010-11 edition of the Emery High boys basketball team opened their season last week with a pair of games against two teams that to the best of my memory have never been on Emery’s schedule before. Emery lost to Wasatch Academy on the road 60-55 before defeating Liahona 77-62 at home.
This version of the Spartans could be described as athletic but short as the tallest starter stands around 6’2″ tall. But the Spartans make up for their lack of height with team speed, quickness and all-around athletic ability.
Ty Benson led the team in scoring the first two games as he scored 53 points the first two nights out. Benson had 33 points in the opener against Wasatch and then scored 20 against Liahona. Benson is a good three-point shooter and had a total of 10 in the two games.
Emery jumped out to an early lead in their game against Liahona as they led 28-12 after the first quarter and then they basically maintained that lead throughout the game.
Also scoring in the game for Emery were Kash Jewkes with 13 points, Quinn Montgomery with 12 points, Nick Stoddard with 11 points, Kashe Potter with eight points, Gage Bell with six points, Chance Huntington with four points and Dallon Cologie with three points.
In their season opener, Wasatch played an international squad in defeating the Spartans. With players from Canada, Germany, Lithuania and several other foreign countries, Wasatch out-shot the shorter Spartan team in securing the victory. Just look at the last names of the players, Spayth, Ainulis, Krajavic, Caba, Skeete and Kurtev are not exactly common names here in Utah. Every Wasatch Academy player was taller than Emery’s tallest player.
Emery was down 25-16 at the half, closed the score to 44-39 after the third quarter and then lost the game by five points against a 1-A team that may be hard to beat this season. In junior varsity action against Wasatch Academy the team came from a 17 point deficit at the half to win by two points.
Besides Benson’s 33 points, Montgomery scored eight points, Stoddard five points and Jewkes and Potter four points each against Wasatch Academy.
The preseason schedule includes three games this week, Emery will travel to Carbon High on Wednesday, to Canyon View High on Friday night and then closes out the week with a game at Hurricane Saturday night.