For the first time since the 2012-13 season, the Carbon High School boys’ basketball team defeated Emery High School on Saturday, with senior Kyle Quinton contributing 29 of the Dinos’ 68 points on the night. Carbon fans stormed the court after the final buzzer rang out, celebrating the victory over one of the Dinos’ biggest rivals, and handing the Spartans their first loss of the season.
“The way I look at it is it’s a good win always to beat Emery. It gives us a lot of momentum going into our Region play,” said head coach Kyle Willson. “I told my guys they did everything I asked them to do. They were well-coached, they did everything they needed to do to win, and it was a pretty dominant victory, and they stayed disciplined and they did what they were coached to do and it’s always good to beat Emery, especially for the senior guys at home, good way to send Emery home like that.”
It was indeed a dominant victory for the Dinos, with the game ending 68-54 in the Dinos’ favor. While the Dinos controlled the court for most of the game, it remained close through the first two quarters. With under a minute to go in the second quarter, an Emery player stole possession and completed a lay-up to tie the game at 26. However, the Dinos responded quickly and before the buzzer rang, junior Tyler Moynier made a three-point basket to send the Dinos into the break with a 29-26 lead.
The Dinos began to extend their lead after the break and went into the final quarter leading 45-37. Not letting up for even a second, the Dinos earned the win over the Spartans. The win came after losing to Emery 54-48 in their last match-up just a few weeks ago.
“We were more aggressive today (Saturday),” said Willson. “We shot the ball better. Last time we played, we didn’t shoot the ball worth a crap, and so it was nice to shoot the ball and be aggressive and stay disciplined. Last time I think we got a little complacent doing some things and today we just kept it on and kept going.”
Except for two free throw baskets by Derek Hillam in the final minutes of the game, all of the Dinos’ points came from their five starters, of which four are seniors. Along with Quinton’s 29 points, senior Gage Daugherty tallied 18, and seniors Jamin Jensen and Chase Morgan each tallied seven.
“It was a team victory,” said Willson. “Kyle Quinton had a lot of the points, I think he ended up with 29, but when they started doubling him, he was able to find other guys and everybody contributed, contributed big too. So it was big for that starting five to kind of get that victory because four of them are seniors.”
The Dinos totaled 25 rebounds as a team, with Daugherty tallying eight, six defensive, and Quinton tallying seven, three defensive.
The victory for the Dinos improves their record to 7-7 overall, heading into Region 12 play this week. Carbon will travel to North Sanpete High School on Wednesday for its first league game. The Dinos will return home to host Canyon View High School on Friday, with tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m.
“I told our guys that if we can play like that, we’re going to be really, really, really hard to beat any game we play, so we just need to keep playing like this, not be complacent, not settle for this either,” said Willson.
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