Written by Hayden Johnson
Emery was able to remain undefeated on its home court Wednesday beating rival Carbon for the second time this season, this time at home, by a score of 67-45. Emery fans participated in a “silent night” game where the fans remained completely silent until the Spartans scored their tenth point. When Gavin McDermott hit a push shot in the lane to get them to ten the hometown crowd came alive, cheering and yelling enthusiastically for the rest of the game to create a great atmosphere in the Spartan Center. “Fun game to play with the crowd being as into it as they were.” said Drexler Tanner. Emery has now reeled off seven straight wins to end non-region play where the Spartans have gone 9-2.
Bailey Faimalo was the leading scorer for Emery with 19 points to go along with 8 dimes, while backcourt partner Dillon Wilstead also put up big numbers with 15 points and Gavin McDermott had another great game on Emery’s home court with 13 points and 7 boards.
The game started out very competitive, with the lead changing multiple times in the first quarter and the Dinos owning a narrow one point lead after the first quarter by a score of 14-13. The Spartans came out gunning in the second with some big threes from Faimalo, Wilstead, and McKlane Allred. Emery would finish with a 47% shooting percentage from behind the line on the game. The game also started to get a little bit chippy in the second with each team picking up technical fouls. Emery used that big run to put a 19 point quarter and take the lead 32-19 heading into halftime.
Emery had secured the lead and would never look back after half. They were able to play some more JV guys to get them experience and Ridge Nielson, Tai Justice and Kevin Butler came in and played well for Emery. The Spartans increased their lead to 20 and ended the third quarter up 50-30.
The rest of the game was just a formality as Emery went into its bench as far as the freshman to cruise to the win, much to the delight of the raucous hometown crowd.
It was an emotional game for the Spartans who lost sixth man Tyson Roper to a rare blood clot in his shoulder that prevented circulation in his body. Tyson had surgery the day that the Spartans played and everyone’s thoughts were turned to their fallen teammate. Tanner said “Coach told us before at practice that we were winning it for him, and that’s what we did. He’s a missed asset.” and McDermott added “I was glad we came together after Roper was out and got the win.” Wilstead said “We all knew the game ball went to Roper so we wanted to make it an honorable game.” Many players also said they played harder than before and wanted to get the win for Roper.
Emery now enters region play on Friday with a game slated against San Juan on the road where it will look to continue its success.
