Spartans were too much for the Dinos

    The Carbon boys basketball team lost to their rival, the Emery Spartans, 93-53 on Wednesday night at the Spartan Center.
    The Spartans came out firing from all cylinders from beyond the three-point line in the first quarter.
    They made a total of seven shots from long distances in the first quarter to give themselves a 32-7 lead heading into the second quarter. Senior Tyler Butler scored 12 points in the first quarter for Emery.
    Carbon struggled most of the first half with shooting and defending the Emery offensive attack and were outscored 47-14 at halftime.
    The Dinos’ Head Coach Kyle Willson said after the game that the first quarter definitely set the tone of the game from the getgo.
    “Any team that is coming out of the gate shooting like that is going to have momentum going forward and especially for high school kids it’s little demoralizing, I mean they shot five straight threes and our first thought was to go for a home run and hit 15-point basket but those things don’t exist,” said Willson.
    Coming off the bench, junior forward Collin Lewis scored 7 points for the Dinos in the first half.
    The Dinos came out motivated and more aggressive in the third quarter led by junior forward Derek Hillam.
    Hillam scored 13 points of the Dinos 23 points in the third quarter including six points in the first minute and half of the period.
    The Spartans however respond to Hillam’s performance with making 7 three pointers in the third quarter to put the game away heading into the fourth quarter.
    Butler put the final nail in the coffin with two more threes for Emery in the beginning of the fourth quarter. He finished the game with 21 points with 18 of those points from long distance.
    Hillam finished the game with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Nineteen of his 20 points came in the second half for the Dinos.
    After the game Willson said that he was proud of Hillam’s performance and hopes he can continue doing that for all four quarters of each game going forward.
    “Derek is a guy that is gritty as hell, he’s a guy that you know what are you going to get out of him. Once he gets going, he is hard to stop and he’s got to realize that and slow down especially early in games to give us that offense.”
    Emery’s Easton Gordon also had an impressive night shooting for the Spartans after finishing the game with 19 points.
    Next year, the rivalry game will be in Price at Carbon High, and Willson hopes his team will have a better performance and be ready to go for that game in 2018.
    “I got to give credit in the world to Coach Jeffs, he is one hell of a coach and always has his teams ready to go especially against us. They had our number tonight and they come to our house next year and maybe we can get it done then,” said Willson.