The Spartan Center was packed for round two between Carbon and Emery on Friday night. Before the rivalry game commenced, Emery Head Coach Todd Jeffs took the microphone and announced that Steven Gordon and Bowie Jeffs’ numbers will be retired. A special presentation including a list of the players’ accolades took place as Jeffs, Gordon and Bowie Jeffs all showed an emotional moment on the court.
Then it was onto the game. Jordan Ekker came out hot, scoring the first eight points for the Spartans. Carbon was forced to take an early timeout after the 8-2 score. Emery pushed its lead to 14-6 at the end of the first quarter. Kyler Wilstead got cooking in the second and exploded with 10 points. He finished at the rim in the form of back door passes from Brax Jensen and tip ins. Wilstead ended the night with 17 points. The Spartans led at half 30-20.
There was a lot of offense on both sides out of the break. Preston Condie was a bright spot for the Dinos as he put in a season-high 16 points. Brax Jensen stole the show, though, and had everything going. He drove to the basket, created separation with step-backs, dished it to open players and deflected passes on defense. He was a lot for Carbon to handle, and the Spartans extended their lead to 49-37 with one quarter left to play.
Things became interesting in the fourth quarter when Carbon’s three-point shot finally started to fall. The Dinos did not connect from behind the arc until the third quarter. Threes from Condie, Rylan Hart and Brady Gagon eventually cut the deficit to five. Emery regrouped and went on to take the game 60-49.
Jensen had game-highs of 25 points and nine assists. Ekker ended the night with 13 points while Keenan Hatch added 10 for the Dinos. Emery shot 56 percent from the field.
The Spartans (15-3, 7-1) will be back home on Wednesday to face South Sevier (8-9, 3-3) as the Dinos head to Richfield (12-4, 5-1). Both games will be streamed live on etvnews.com/livesports while the former will be on ETV Channel 10.
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- Photos by Dusty Butler
