Spartans/Pirates begin basketball season

By Gary Arrington Sports Writer

Last season, the Emery High boys’ basketball team and Green River boys’ basketball team each finished second in their respective state tournaments and this season they opened the season playing each other in a Hall of Fame game this season. Games are arranged for teams that finish first or second the previous year. Emery won this opening game over the visiting Pirates at the Spartan Center in Castle Dale by the score of 77-38.
Junior Koby Butler led the Spartans in scoring with 18 points as he made eight of his 11 shots in the game and Butler also pulled down 5 rebounds. Senior Beau Roundy finished the game with 15 points as he made seven of eight shots and also pulled down 12 rebounds in the game.
The Pirates had three players finish the game by scoring 8 points each to lead their team in scoring. Senior Nathan Cox, senior Jovani Flores and sophomore Freddy Escalante all tied for the Pirate lead in scoring. Nikolas Shaffer and Jacob Cox each scored 5 points and Joe Serafin scored 4 points to close out the Pirate scoring.
Junior Bowdie Jacobson opened the game by burying a three-point shot on Emery’s opening possession and the Spartans scored the first 10 points in the game before Green River finally had a shot go in with 3:06 left in the first quarter. Flores hit a three-point shot to cut the deficit to 10-3 and then the Pirates hit two more three’s in the next two possessions as they cut the led to three at 12-9. Flores hit another three and Serafin also made a three. Emery scored the final seven points of the first quarter and led 19-9 at the buzzer.
Emery won the second period 15 to 10 with senior Bryce Dugmore hitting a pair of three-point shots to lead the team while Nathan Cox scored six points for the Pirate team. Emery won the third quarter 20-6 as Koby Butler scored 12 points and then Emery closed out the game by winning the final quarter 23-13 with reserves scoring most of the points in the period.
This Emery team returns no starters from last season’s team but Koby and Kolton Butler along with Jacobson each saw a lot of playing time for the Emery team. Roundy missed almost all of last season due to health issues but looked healthy in this first game of the season.
Starting for Emery is Roundy in the middle with Koby Butler and Mitch Richarz starting on the front line with Jacobson and Zac Jorgensen starting out front. Kolton Butler and Bryce Dugmore come off the bench to form Emery’s normal rotation. Also scoring for the Spartans were Jacobson with 9 points, Dugmore with 6 points, Jorgensen with 5 points, Richarz with 4 points and Kolton with 2 points.
Emery went to the bench for most of the fourth quarter with eight underclassman playing in the game and half of them scoring points for the
Spartans. Sophomore Cody Wilstead scored 8 points and Easton Gordon scored 6 points with Kyson Stilson and Keaton McDermott each scoring two points. Also playing for Emery were Kyler Wakefield, Issac Hardee, Tyler Butler and Chase Jewkes.
Emery will play games this Friday and Saturday at the Sevier Valley Center in Richfield against South Sevier and Waterford. The game Friday starts at 5:30 p.m. and the Saturday game starts at 1:30 p.m.
The Pirates will host San Juan today, Tuesday, and then will play at the Eagle Tournament on Friday and Saturday. Next Tuesday they will travel to Grand High in Moab.