Spartans win two to bring region record 2-1

By GARY ARRINGTON Sports Writer

The Emery High Spartan basketball team played twice at home last week and came out on top in each of the games. Emery defeated Richfield early in the week by the score of 55-47 and then came back on Saturday night and soundly defeated Grand 75-42. With the wins, Emery is now 2-1 in region 15 action.
Saturday night against Grand, Emery easily won each of the periods, as the visiting Red Devils were never able to offer much of a threat. Emery won the first quarter 17-11, the second quarter 20-12 and the third quarter 23-10 as the Spartans got better as the game went on. Emery won the final period 15-9 as the Spartan bench players saw some action.
Emery was led in scoring by sophomore Dillon Wilstead as Wilstead had a very good night shooting the ball. Wilstead was 7 for 7 at the free throw line, 3 for 3 on three-point field goals as he shot 60 percent for the evening from the field.
Junior point guard Bailey Faimalo had another good game as he scored 13 points while dishing out 10 assists coming away with 5 steals and Faimalo also pulled down 4 rebounds. Faimalo shot 62 percent from the field.
Senior center Dawson Jensen also finished the game in double figures as he scored 12 points while grabbing 4 rebounds.
These three are the three leading scorers for the season. Faimalo averages 13.8 points per game, Wilstead 10.9 points per game and Jensen 10.2. The Emery team is averaging 61.6 points per game.
Seven other Spartans scored in the Grand game. Brendon Jorgensen had a good game scoring 8 points. Curtis Mason and David Dyer each scored 5 points while McKlane Allred scored 4 points. Corbin Barnett, Tyson Roper and Gavin McDermott each scored 2 points to close out the scoring for Emery. Senior forward Spencer Labrum led the team with 7 rebounds.
In the Richfield game, a young Wildcat team outscored Emery in the first quarter 12-6. Richfield starts one senior, three sophomores and a freshman. Emery won period two 13-7 to even the score at the half 19-19. In the third quarter, Richfield led one more time as the Wildcats won the period 15-14. Emery grabbed the fourth quarter 22-13 to grab the win.
Wilstead was the leading scorer in this game also as he shot 50 percent from the field and scored 16 points. Wilstead was 10 for 10 at the free throw line as he finished the week with 17 straight. Faimalo scored 10 points in the game to be the only other Spartan in double figures.
Jorgensen and Jensen each scored 9 points in the game and were vital cogs in Spartan victory. Also scoring were Labrum with 6 points, Mason with 3 points and Barnett with 2 points. Emery shot 37 percent from the field in this game while shooting 50 percent in the Grand game. Emery shot 82 percent at the free throw line in the game.
In looking at other stats, Faimalo had 8 assists in this game and came away with 4 steals to lead the team in both categories. Jensen led the team with 8 rebounds and had 2 blocked shots.
Emery will travel to San Juan this Friday night with the expectation of coming home with another region victory. The boy’s team will not be home again until February 8 when they host San Juan at the Spartan Center.