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Show A15 Castle Valley Review, March 2009 Spartans Struggle at State Competition Casey D. Wood The Emery High School Spartans competed in the Utah 3A State Basketball Championship at the E Center in West Valley on Feb. 26-28. Despite their best efforts they were unable to come out with the state victory they had hoped for as they first lost out to the favored to win Bear River High School, and then to Hurricane High School. The tournament began with Emery facing a difficult opponent, Bear River High School on Feb. 26. Emery, knowing the record and prestige of the Bears fought hard, and ended the first quarter with a 18-16 lead. They continued to play hard and prove their right to be at the tournament as they ended the half still leading, 28-24. As the second half began the Bears began to pick up momentum, but the Spartans kept the scoring close, ending the third quarter trailing the Bears 41-43. The Spartans continued to fight hard but were unable to stop the Bears, who would go on to take State. The game ended with a final score of 51-57. Emery’s second game, a Consolation Match against Hurricane High School on Feb. 27, proved to be a difficult one. The Spartans fought hard against the Tigers, who had beat them earlier in the season, and ended the first quarter leading, 11-6. The Spartans continued their battle into the second quarter, but the Tigers were able to close the gap and pull ahead, ending the half 19-20, Hurricane. As the teams returned to the court for the second half, both teams seemed resolute to be victorious. Each team fought hard, but the Tigers were able to widen the gap and end the third with a 28-35 lead. In the end, Hurricane’s determination won out and the Tigers eliminated the Spartans, ending the game with a final score of 39-48. Over the course of both games, the Spartans gave their all. Scoring was led by Karson Jensen, with 21 points, one three-pointer. Following Jensen was Colton Barnett with 19 point, then came Jason Giles with 14 points, two from downtown, Nevin Jensen with 11 points, Cameron Hansen with 9 points, Gatlan Huntington with 8, two from behind the key, Brett Mecham with 5, one from downtown, and rounding up scoring was Tanner Procarione with 3 points. At half time during the Championship Game when Academic All-State was awarded for basketball, three Emery High School boys were awarded Academic All-Sate, Jason Giles, Brett Mecham, and Tayler Tanner. The Spartans played a great season despite their unfortunate downfall at State. They ended the season as Region Champions with a 8-2 Region record and a 16-6 overall record. Photo by Casey Wood CEU Basketball Team Survives Grueling Month Riley Spears After some huge wins against Colorado Northwest Community College in January, the basketball team of the College of Eastern Utah had some more to show to get back into the conference race, continue their national rankings and gain a seed into the conference tourney. The men started their run to move up the conference totem pole against the College of Southern Idaho. CSI had just been knocked out of the top 25 in the latest NJCAA national polls and wanted to prove that they still belonged there. In the first of the two games, CEU was even with CSI most of the time, but at the end CSI had built up a 7point lead. CEU then made its push for points with some good play by the offense, only to make a few costly mistakes. The outcome of the tie game was in the hands of Mike Scott, the sixthbest free-throw shooter in the nation at the line. Scott was denied the three-free throws he deserved by the officials and issued only two. Scott made both and sent the game into overtime. In overtime CEU just could not stick with CSI and their tough offence, plus losing Head Coach Chris Craig in the second half with a technical. CEU ended up losing a heartbreaker 118-112. Darrington Hobson led the charge for CEU scoring 28 points. Scott and Stephen Franklin added 18 points each. On the second night, a tired CEU team did not come out fired to play like Friday’s game. With Coach Craig not allowed at the game because of the prior night’s technical call, the team seemed emotionally and physically drained. CEU immediately got down big in the first minutes of the game and never made up the deficit, losing 85-60. Assistant Coach Anthony Owens coached the Eagles that night. He said, “I have been in the situation of having to step in and coach a team before. Last year the head coach of the college where I was an assistant, got fired during the season and I finished the season coaching for him. It’s a lot different when you are the head guy.” The only bright spot for CEU was Hobson who drained 21 points and 12 rebounds Coach Owens said, “With Coach Craig not in the game, we just didn’t come out to play. Some of the guys did not show the maturity that they should have.” After the two emotional losses against CSI, CEU made the 18-hour bus trip back to Idaho to face another nationally ranked team, North Idaho College, and hope to regain some momentum for the rest of the conference. The first game against NIC started just like the game against CSI, in that it was an evenly matched game. Just like the week before, the game again came down to the wire, and again CEU got a bad call that ended up costing them the game against the number 15th team in the nation, 69-67. Owens said, “I think the guys were just worn out from the last weekend games.” Aaron England was the high scorer for CEU scoring 15, followed close behind by Franklin with 14. After another tough loss, CEU had to put it all behind them and start from scratch. NI and CEU showed how even these two teams are. The game again went into the final moments and again CEU had troubles putting it together, losing again by two points, 72-74. Thomas Phillip led CEU this time scoring 16 points, followed by Franklin with 15. After the tough road trip, CEU finally got a break from the dreadedIdaho teams and got up to play rival Snow in a much needed home game. CEU came out totally dominating the game with help from England who put up 23 points in the first half, and Chandler Pearson with three 3s of his own, showing Snow that they would have been better to not even show up. The score was a lot closer than it really was as the whole second half, the Eagles seemed to be on cruse control. The game ended after free-throw after free-throw with a score of 90-78. England ended up scoring 28 points along with six 3s, followed by Phillip with 16. The next night, Snow returned for another drubbing by the Eagles and the outcome went just like the day before with CEU starting off on a 10 –0 run, and never looking back. CEU dominated the whole game and continued showing that the last few games in Idaho had not fazed them. CEU again won big playing arguably their best weekend of the year 83-68. Hobson played a great game scoring 23 points and nine rebounds, followed by Franklin with 19. England had a monstrous month, scoring 87 points and hitting 24 from downtown. Coach Owens said,” That was the best weekend of games we have played all year, the guys really seemed to be on the top of their game and were ready to play.” The last home games for the Eagles pitted CEU against nationally ranked Salt Lake Community College Bruins. The Eagles had lost a close one to SLCC in January and wanted to get another chance at the Bruins. SLCC has been ranked in the top 10 teams nationally the past few weeks and recently dropped to 13th after a loss to CSI. If you were in the Bunnell-Dmitrich Athletic Center to witness the athletic prowess of the two teams, you got to see incredible defense by both teams on Feb. 27-28. The Eagles pulled both games out of the stretch and sent SLCC home with two hard-fought defeats. Packed crowds watched the Eagles’ offense and defense pick away at the Bruins in both games. In the Feb. 27 game, former Emery High School star, Chandler Pearson, played a monster role in the late stages of the regulation play and forced the game into overtime. His defense was key in the deciding moments of the game when he came up with huge rebounds. In the 83-80 overtime win, Darlington Hobson’s 19-second-half points added to his six in the first half, helped him lead the team in scoring followed by Phillip Thomas with 14. The second night was another close game with back and forth leads. It again came down to the final seconds of the game. With nine seconds remaining, The Eagles held a three-point lead. After being hot all night, SLCC could not make their final shots, and CEU sealed their four-game winning streak, 76-73. The win gives CEU a tie for third with CSI, but CSI will hold the tiebreaker and get the third seed in the tournament. CEU will get the fourth seed. North Idaho has sole possession of first place and host the conference tournament in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. CEU plays the only game on March 5 as they take on number-five seeded Snow College at 7:30 p.m. CEU already beat the Badgers three times this season. The winner of the game will play the number-one seed North Idaho Friday, March 6, at 7:30 p.m. The other half of the bracket matches number-two SLCC versus number-three CSI in the single elimination tournament. The Golden Eagles have had a successful season so far with a 23-6 record. They end the conference at 9-6, their only losses coming in conference play. |
