After a tough loss in their opening game to 4A Maple Mountain, the Carbon Dinos rebounded soundly over the weekend with three wins in four tries at the Ben Lomond Pepsi Classic in Ogden.
The Dinos opened the tournament Thursday against North Summit and came away with their first win of the season, 61-55. South Summit was next and Carbon was unable to make the comeback and fell 64-59. The team then rebounded on Saturday with two wins against Odgen and St. Joseph.
In game one against North Summit, Cole Fossat and Brad Williams combined to score 34 points, including three 3-point buckets apiece. The Dinos ended the game on a 12-4 to comeback to take the game 61-55 after leading the game by 12 points at one point in the first half.
On Friday, Carbon faced a South Summit team that was, according to head coach Jeff Cisneros, “a very big and physical team.” The Dinos and Wildcats went back in forth during the game until clutch free throw shooting by South Summit put it over the top and escaped with a narrow 64-59 win. Fossat continued his onslaught from beyond the arc, hitting five threes en route to a game-high 26 points. Mitch Olson pitched in 12 points, including 8-8 from the charity stripe. “This was a very hard fought game and I was really pleased with our effort in the loss,” Cisneros said.
Ogden was next for Carbon for the Dinos’ third game in three days. Ogden took a 11-6 lead after a sluggish first quarter by Carbon. Peyton Fausett and Williams spurred the Dinos in the second quarter to tie the score up at 26 at the break. Timely free throw shooting in the fourth helped Carbon to its second win of the season. Williams led the Dinos in scoring with 15, including 5-6 from the free throw line. Fausett added 10 points and five rebounds and Olson and Fossat each pitched in nine. Fossat also dished out eight assists. “In the end, I was very pleased as we found a way to win despite the turnovers and the poor shooting,” Cisneros said about the team’s 58-51 win.
In its final game of the weekend, Carbon faced off against 1A St. Joseph Catholic High School. “We looked tired the entire game,” Cisneros said of his team. Despite the fatigue they were experiencing, the Dinos were able to withstand 14 three pointers from St. Joseph and got double figure scoring from Fossat (17), Williams (12) and Garrett Blanc (season-high 14). The Dinos connected on 17-21 free throws, including 7-8 from Blanc in Carbon’s 64-62 narrow victory.
Carbon’s 3-1 tournament record was the best among the teams that participated in the Pepsi Classic. “I was extremely pleased with our play this weekend as we picked up three wins,” Cisneros said. “Not always pretty but sometimes you have to learn how to win the ugly ones.”
Fossat was named to the all-tournament team after averaging 17.5 points per game. As a team, the Dinos are connecting on 82% of their free throws.
Carbon (3-2, 0-0 Region 12) will travel to Stansbury (1-3, 0-0 Region 11) on Wednesday and finish the week at Snow Canyon (0-1, 0-0 Region 9) and Canyon View (1-1, 0-0 Region 9) on Friday and Saturday, respectively.