Spartans work past the wolves, head to Richfield

By GARY ARRINGTON Sports Writer

The Emery Spartans defeated the Enterprise Wolves in the opening round of the 2012 Utah 2-A basketball tournament last Saturday night at Snow College. Emery won the hard-fought game 62-57. Emery now advances to Richfield this week for the continuation of the tournament at the Sevier Valley Center.
Emery will face South Summit this Thursday at 2:30 p.m. South Summit advanced by defeating North Sevier 73-58. The winner of this game will play Friday night at 9:10 p.m. while the loser will play at 5:50 p.m.
Snow College hosted 16 2-A boys teams last Saturday with the winners advancing and the losers staying home. Richfield pulled the only upset of the day when they defeated Millard 52-33. Richfield plays in region 15 with Emery. Millard finished in second place in the southern region behind Beaver.
Emery scored the first basket of the game. A three-point shot by Brendon Jorgensen. Enterprise scored the next four points to lead 4-3. Emery then scored the next seven points to lead 10-4 only to see the Wolves retake the lead at 12-10. Emery outscored Enterprise by four points to end quarter one. Enterprise would never lead again although they would make the game way too interesting.
In the second quarter, Dallon Cologie opened the scoring for the Spartans with a three-point shot. Emery went on a 17-4 run in the first six minutes of the quarter to lead 31-16. At this point, Emery fans were feeling pretty comfortable. That comfortable feeling quickly went away though as the Wolves closed out the half on an 8-0 run and the Spartans only led at the half 31-24.
Enterprise scored the first three points of the third quarter and continued narrowing the deficit. Emery fans were now fidgeting a lot. Cologie hit another three-pointer to ease the Emery pain and the Spartans still led after three periods 44-38 although the Wolves won the period 14-13.
In quarter four, the two teams opened the period by each turning the ball over twice. Emery then scored a two-pointer only to have the Wolves hit a three. Next possession, Emery scored again on a two pointer only to have the Wolves respond with another three. After an Emery miss, Enterprise hit another three and the game was way too questionable at this point for Emery fans. Score was now 48-47.
The Enterprise shooting then returned to normal and the Spartans avoided the upset. The Spartans went 12 for 16 in the fourth quarter from the free throw line as the 75 percent shooting helped hold off the charging Wolves.
Although the Wolves shot better throughout the game, 37.7 percent to 34.7 percent, the Wolves also had 10 more turnovers throughout the game and that stat helped secure their loss. Emery out rebounded the Wolves 31-30 throughout the game.
Looking at individual stats in the game, Emery had three players in double figures with a fourth only a point away. Brendon Jorgensen scored 16 points in the game, maybe his best game of the season. Jorgensen also added five rebounds and three steals to his stats. Brendon was four for four at the free throw line, two for four behind the three-point line and five for 12 shooting in the game.
Dallon Cologie scored 14 points, had four assists and three steals along with three rebounds. Jordan Cox scored 11 points, had five rebounds and stole the ball six times. Dawson Jensen was close to scoring in double figures with nine points. Jensen also had six rebounds in the game.
Curtis Mason finished with nine points in my book but less in the official stat book at the college. Mason also had six rebounds and a pair of steals in the game. Logan Tuttle scored four points and had four rebounds and Bailey Faimalo came into the game in the final period and closed off the game making four of six free throws.