| Tysen Stevens, a major offensive weapon, goes up hard for a deuce. |
After a heartbreaking overtime loss on Dec. 19, the Dinos got right back to work and headed up north to take on Park City. This time it was the Dinos who would walk away victorious. They beat the Miners 46-40 on Friday night to finish up their pre-Christmas play.
Even though they played from behind at times, the Dinos edged out the Miners in the first quarter 12-11. But in an early nip and tuck affair, the Miners took the lead in the second by a single point as the teams headed into the locker room. Even though Carbon wasn’t shooting particularly well, it was their defense that kept the game close and made sure they were not letting Park City put the game away early.
In the third the Miner’s offense went cold as the Carbon defense stepped it up and limited the opposition to five. The adjustments the Dinos made in the locker room let them take over the tempo. The Dinos offense did not slow down and they were able to put up 14 points to retake the lead. With an eight point cushion going into the final quarter, the Dinos were able to hold on in another seesaw battle to finish it off with a six point victory.
Tyler Bean was the offensive leader with 12, half of his points coming via the long ball. Tysen Stevens followed with 11 points of his own. Jason Child hit three from beyond the arc for all of his nine points. Joey Keller and Eric Buchmiller were workhorses on the boards. Josh Spigarelli returned to the line up after an illness that had kept him sidelined most of the season.
After a brutal week previous that saw the Dinos lose by 20 or more in three consecutive games, Coach Bianco expressed considerable pride with the turn around his team was able to perform. “They really showed great effort in both of the games we had this week. It felt really good to win on someone else’s floor.” He went on to say, “They never quit playing. We got down in the first quarter and they battled right back. It was our defense that kept us in position to win. The defense has been our bright spot all year. In the past few year’s our defensive effort tended to lag off, but these kids always play good defense and it showed in both the Wednesday game and the win on Friday.”
Bianco went on to point out that everyone contributed to the win. The total team effort they are putting forth right now is the key to giving themselves a chance to win. Bianco knows this has been a tough pre-season run for the Dinos, but he is hoping the tough schedule they have taken on will prepare them for region play. Even the blow out losses to the toughest teams on their schedule has given them lessons to learn. The welcome Christmas break will give them plenty of time to process everything and get back to work on their next game.
The Dinos will resume action on Jan. 3 with a home game against Duchesne. There will only be a sophomore/junior varsity game starting at 5:15 p.m. with the varsity game at 7 p.m.. They will then head to Delta on Jan 9 to begin region play.