OCR Text |
Show orts SP Coveting what matters most WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2007 • B1 SF54 Chad Vest STAFF WRITER The red and gray defense came out of the blocks and executed near perfection. An early full-court press forced three consecutive turnovers with one of them being a 10second backcourt violation. On one of the takings, senior forward Kevin Roberts drove hard to the basket. With only a point guard in front of him, Roberts elected to leap over the 5'9" guard, rather than drive around him. The athletic big man threw down an "in your face" jam and the Don faithful erupted. This play was a big momentum booster as the SF fans began a relentless cheer which set the tone early. pressure and found more fast-break points to maintain their lead. Spanish entered the locker room with a 27-23 halftime lead. The Dons continued to frustrate their opponent with their quick hustling guard play and went on a 9-2 run when Gardner hit a big trey to give his team a 36-25 lead. But Payson countered with consecutive buckets, but on the next play, Shaun Peterson answered as he knocked down a trey of his own to heat up the SF crowd. On Payson's next possession, Gardner stepped in front of a pass and drove for an easy uncontested finger-roll lay-in which gave the Dons a 41-30 lead at the end of the third. Naulu dished out eight assists and grabbed several steals for his teammates. However, his only bucket was a big one as he nailed a trey from downtown to begin the fourth. On the Dons next possession, a Payson guard bit on a Shaun Peterson head fake. "Petie" dribbled right and calmly sunk a 19-foot jump-shot that prompted the Lions to take a timeout. Senior guard Cameron Catmull got in on the action with an impressive steal in the fourth. Each SF guard's hustle changed the outcome of the game. Gardner led all scorers with 21 points. Peterson (eight points). Nelson (seven) while Roberts chipped in six with eight boards on the night. Matt Gardner commented on the team's game plan and performance. The Lions clawed their way back with a 7-0 run to begin the second period of play. Several clutch shots, including three treys, allowed the Lions to narrow the lead to one at the four-minute mark. However, the Dons went back to their defensive "It's always good to beat a rival," he said. "Anytime you can do that in a big atmosphere, it's great. We pressured them a lot and tried to get steals and tips. Their big guy had scored a lot so Namon Bills / Spanish Fork News we wanted to keep it out of his hands." MAKING A STATEMENT: Kevin Roberts flies over Payson's Chad Marvin for a monster dunk in the first quarter. The Spanish Fork Dons invaded the Lions' den with a little revenge on their minds,since Payson had prevailed in last year's contest. On Friday, Dec. 14, Coach Bailey's plan of attack was to disrupt the Lions from getting set in their offense with a full court press early and often, and boy did it work. The Dons jumped out to an early lead and Payson was forced to play catch-up for the rest of the night. The home team came within a point on separate occasions but SF clamped down with a ferocious defense and capitalized on many of Payson's 15 turnovers. In the end, Spanish Fork replaced their starters and still came away with a comfortable 54— 42 non-region victory. We are the Champions Don grapplers take T-wolves at 135 pounds, by pinning Zach Peck in only 45 seconds of the first round. Steve Wilson Brett Grover picked up a major decision over Timp's Riding the wave of an Jacob Smith at 145 by the impressive second place fin- score of 12-2 running the ish at last week's prestigious team score to 22-0 for the Wasatch Duals in Heber City, Dons. the improving Spanish Fork Coach Dave Clark was Dons completely took apart excited to have the Sorenson the hapless Timpanogos Tim- brothers back on the mat for berwolves 65-12 on the Dons his charges as Phil dusted off home mat on Thursday. his togs and joined brother The Dons never broke a Dave to give the Dons muchsweat in this laugher as they needed depth as they head sliced and diced the Silver into Region IV wars. Inactive Wolves, winning 12 of the all season long, Phil looked 14 matches on the night. in mid season form as he One of the non-victories took charge of his 160 pound was a forfeit at 112 pounds match from the opening and the other was a tough whistle and shutout Tanner third round loss by the Dons' Prestwich 15-0 and record Kade Christensen, who was a dominating technical fall wrestling in his first match of win. the year. The Dons co-captain, Picking up pins for the Kyle Weight, put on a clinic confident Dons were Caleb at 171 pounds recording five Ashworth, Jacob Bracken, takedowns before effortlessly Kyle Weight, Eric Kitchen pinning Matt Kresge early in and Brock Wilson. Adding the second round. to the Timpanogos pain The back third of the Dons were Traven Gardner and powerful upper weight trio Phil Sorenson who recorded of Eric Kitchen and Brock Technical Fall pasting's. Wilson refused to take a back Jacob Bracken got the scoring started for Spanish See WRESTLERS • B12 Fork as he met no resistance On the Mat nAvn.n-r . . . 1-1 Courtesy photos / PRCA PAYDIRT: Wes Silcox, of Payson, pictured above left, was recently crowned World Champion Bull Rider at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. In the 10th and final round of the rodeo on Saturday, Dec. 14, Silcox rode Wolf Can Do for a score of 91.5 out of a possible 100. The score put Silcox in first place for round 10 and clinched the world championship. With an overall score of 596.0/7, Silcox walked away with over $100,000 in prize money. Salem's Jess Davis, pictured, above right, finished second in the overall world standings in Bareback, after a third-place 87-point finish in the 10th round. Davis garnered over $80,000 in winnings. J |