Dinos boys basketball lose to Richfield Wildcats

    PRICE – The Carbon boys’ basketball team lost to the Richfield Wildcats 63-55 at home on Tuesday night.
    The Dinos kept it close in the first quarter keeping the athletic Wildcats to only 8 points with three minutes left in the period.
    Richfield would go on a run to end the first quarter to give them a 14-8 lead. In the first quarter the Wildcats made three shots from beyond the three-point line to put the Dinos in an early hole.
    Providing a spark off the bench in the first half was junior Collin Lewis providing 7 of his 12 points in the first half for the Dinos.
    “Collin is the type of guy where I know what I am going to get out of him and he is going to come in and give us a spark no matter what the situation is,” said Carbon Head Coach Kyle Willson
    Richfield would continue with a hot hand from long distance and made more three pointers in the second quarter and led by as much as 32-22 at halftime.
    The Dinos would continue to struggle in the third quarter and allow the Wildcats to build a bigger lead.
    Carbon was down 49-32 at the end of third quarter while a couple of key players sat the bench in the final minutes of the period.
    Despite being down by 17, the Dinos would attempt a large comeback to try and pull off the win in the fourth quarter.
    Senior point guard Ryker Smith provided key defensive stops and had three steals in the fourth quarter to help get easy scores for the Dinos on breakaways and fast breaks.
    Providing much needed scoring in the fourth quarter was senior guard Jordan Vasquez who drained four three-pointers in the period to cut the Wildcats’ lead to only 59-55 with only 23 seconds left.
    The comeback would fall short as the Dinos would allow Richfield to go to the free-throw line adding to their lead and the win.
    Although they lost the game, Coach Willson said after that he was proud of the performance the team showed in the fourth quarter.
    “My guys showed a lot of heart and that has been our thing all year, to not stop from the tipoff to that last buzzer, we are not stopping no matter what,” said Willson.
    Vasquez finished the night with 12 points, he currently is the Dinos’ leading scorer with 11 points per game.
    Junior Derek Hillam, the team’s second leading scorer, chipped in with 8 points.
    With the loss on Tuesday, the Dinos record sits at 1-4 and will begin Region 12 play on December 13 against Juab at home.