A loss and a win make for a .500 week in Region 8 for the Dinos of the Carbon High basketball team. Unfortunately for Carbon fans the loss was the closing chapter in the year for the annual home and home games against Emery on Wednesday night as they fell to the Spartans 59-44.
On the other hand, the team kept their playoff hopes alive by beating North Sanpete on Friday night as Jeff Anderson hit a shot with just seconds to go to break up a tie game and the Dinos won 66-64.
In the game at Emery High on Wednesday, Carbon got down early and were never able to come back from the deficit in the Spartan Center. At the end of the first quarter Emery (3-3, 9-9) was ahead 19-11.
The next quarter was a little more even as neither team was very good at hitting the basket with Emery out scoring Carbon 11-10 for the quarter.
After halftime it looked like Carbon was going to make a comeback, but Emery rallied and was able to win the quarter 14-13.
Going into the fourth period Carbon still had a good chance to catch the Spartans only being behind by 10 points, but the Spartans wouldn’t let their eastern Utah cousins catch up scoring 15 points in the quarter while holding the Dinos to only 10.
Carbon did have some bright spots however. They made six three point shots, with Matt Jewkes getting four of them. Jewkes was the high scorer for the Dinos with 20, while Jan Jorgensen was the only other Carbon player in double figures with 10 points.
On Friday night the team came home to the friendly confines of the Dinogym. Despite playing the game on the night the opening ceremonies for the winter Olympics was only 120 miles away and on television, the game attracted a sizable crowd.
North Sanpete took off like the Hawks they are at the beginning of the game with a 20-12 lead at the end of the first period. To some Carbon fans it was all too familiar and they were disconcerted by the lead the Mount Pleasant kids took in the beginning.
But the Dinos were at home and as they have all year they showed their resiliency in the second quarter by storming back and actually taking the lead at half time 38-34 on the power of Jake Woods shooting. Carbon increased their lead in the third quarter as they put up 18 points while holding the Hawks to 14.
But as the fourth quarter began the Hawks got hot. They came back and actually took the lead one time before the game settled into a stalemate that was ended when Anderson’s shot found it’s mark with only five seconds on the clock. North Sanpete could not repeat what Anderson had done only moments before and that was the end of the game.
Wood led Carbon’s scorers with 19 points, while three other players also had double figures. Anderson put in 14, Matt King scored 12 and Matt Jewkes put through 11.
The Dinos now must play one of the best teams in the state once again in the form of Lehi on Wednesday night in Utah County. While the Pioneers are undefeated in Region 8 play, they are not unbeatable. When they played Carbon in the Dinogym the Carbon team gave them everything they could handle. This is Carbon’s last league game of the year. A win could set the stage for momentum going into possible crossover games.
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