On the night when three seniors were honored in the Spartan Center, the Emery Spartans needed to get a win against second place Grand Wednesday to punch their ticket into next week’s 3A tournament.
Kyson Stilson scored a career-high 34 points to lead the Spartans to the 92-83 win. Emery notched its fifth Region 15 win, two games up on last place North Sanpete, who was beaten Wednesday by Richfield. With just one game remaining on the season, a Friday tilt at San Juan, the Spartans can either clinch a share of third place or slip all the way to sixth, depending on Friday’s results and/or coin flips, should teams tie. The top six teams out of Region 15 will make the 3A Playoffs.
The Spartans built a quick 13-point lead, 18-5, at the three-minute mark of the first, thanks in part to two three-pointers by Cade Brazier and a bucket at the buzzer by Stilson, making it 23-12 at the end of one quarter of play.
Brazier hit his third three of the game on Emery’s first possession of the second quarter, leading the Spartans on a 14-0 run to take the 37-12 lead. Grand, though, outscored the Spartans 22-15 the rest of the half, and trailed 52-34.
The 52 points scored in the first half marked the most Emery has scored in the first half in any game this season.
The Spartans built its largest lead of the game, 66-39, after a Tyler Butler bucket under the basket at the 5:08 mark. But the Red Devils weren’t done yet.
Grand mounted a huge comeback spanning the third and fourth quarters, using a 32-11 run in that time to cut the lead all the way to six, 77-71, at the 3:30 juncture of the fourth quarter. Stilson and Brax Jensen were clutch down the stretch from the free throw line to secure the much-needed victory. As a team, the Spartans were 32-37 from the free throw line.
Besides Stilson’s game high 34 points, Jensen added 18 more. Brazier nailed a total of four treys in the game en route to 12 points. Butler chipped in 11.
The three seniors recognized prior to the game were Easton Gordon, Alex Orozco and Butler.
Emery (11-9, 5-6 Region 15) will finish the regular season at San Juan (10-11, 4-7 Region 15) on Friday.
Watch highlights of the game below:
