| Tyler Bean drives past a North Sanpete player as he goes hard to the basket. The Dinos closed out the win. |
It was an up and down week for the Dinos as they started region play meeting up with the powerful Delta Rabbits.
The Rabbits were too strong for the Dinos and beat up on the home team 34-58 on Jan 9.
However North Sanpete rolled into town Friday and Carbon got back into form taking down the Hawks by the score of 68-54.
Carbon knew the Delta match up was going to be a tough game. Highly ranked in the state, Delta is 12-1 on the season. Carbon came out hard in the first half and kept the score close.
They were only down by four at the end of the first quarter and did not let the deficit grow in the second.
Heading into the locker room only down by four, the Dinos thought the game was still within their reach.
But whatever the Rabbit coach said to his players in the locker room fired them up and they came out and put the game away quickly.
In the third Delta held Carbon scoreless as they put in 17 of their own. Even though the Dinos kept up their play in the fourth, the game was out of reach.
Joey Keller lead the Dino attack with 12 points, Tyler Bean contributed six and hit a three and Tysen Stevens also contributed a trey. Coach Ted Bianco was a little frustrated with his team because he knew they had played a great first half.
“We had a good first half, but they can’t play half a game and win,” stated Bianco. “Delta is a good team and they took it to us.”
But with the Friday match up right on their door step the team could not wonder what might have been as they got right back up on the horse.
The North Sanpete game was a bit of a defensive struggle in the first period as baskets for both teams were few and far between.
The Dinos held the edge with a good flurry of activity at the end of the first period and found themselves up 18 to 9.
They began the second strong and then Sanpete came roaring back and the Dinos let them get some easy points off foul shots to give the Hawks a one point lead at that the half.
The Dinos came out of the locker room strong but North Sanpete was not to be denied and they matched points throughout the third. The score was 40 to 37 with North Sanpete up, going into the final quarter of play.
The Carbon intensity grew as the clock ticked away in the fourth period of play and they began to put a small bit of breathing room between them and the Hawks.
In the final seconds North Sanpete fouled the Dinos to try and regain possession without taking any time off the clock.
Each time they were fouled however the Dino players dropped their free throws and widened the lead.
In the end Carbon walked away with its first win to go one and one in region play.
Bean was the spark in Carbon’s offense going for 18. He was hot from the outside when needed racking up three treys.
A solid Keller also contributed 17 points. Erik Buchmiller hit double figures with 10. The frustration from the previous contest was gone as Bianco talked about the contest.
“They played an intense game and showed a lot of hustle all night,” said Bianco. “We tried some different things on offense and really pushed the press. It all worked tonight.”
He went on to add, “there was some pretty good rebounding from the kids tonight and they played as a team from start to finish.”
Carbon will travel to rival Emery’s home turf on Jan. 16 in what should prove to be another barn burner.
The two teams are evenly matched and there is no clear front runner. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Spartan gym in Castle Dale.