Both Reggie and Jake became very aggressive offensively for the Grantsville boys basketball team in the third quarter, scoring nine points each against North Sanpete to help the Cowboys coast to a 68-55 victory in Mount Pleasant.
The win helped Grantsville obtain momentum heading into Region 11 play, starting Friday. Reggie led all scorers with 20 points to lead a cast of four Cowboys who scored in double figures. Jake and Cody Colson each had 13 points while Damon Deavila added 10 on a night when their regular leading scorer Alex Childs was overcoming illness and foul trouble.
North Sanpete jumped out early on their home court. A jumper for Kenny Rawlings near the foul line helped the Hawks take an early 5-2 lead to start the game. However, Grantsville fought back with a run of their own to end the first quarter.
A fast-break lay-up from Eli Hamm helped cap a 6-2 run that gave the Cowboys a slim 12-10 lead at the end of the first.
Trailing 15-14 with just over two minutes into the second quarter, Grantsville again took control. Deavila, who had a strong second quarter offensively and defensively, scored four points during a 9-2 run that gave the Cowboys a 23-17 advantage. Jacob Clonts was also able to knock down five points in the quarter as the Cowboys went into the locker room with a 28-23 lead.
Hitting only four field goals in a quarter usually doesn’t spell success for any team but Grantsville was able to overcome it by using their aggressiveness to create many free throw opportunities. The Cowboys made 11-of-13 free throws in the quarter.
“We did a lot better attacking the basket in the third,” said Grantsville basketball coach Shane Heath. “A lot of our points came off of the way our defense was played.”
Reggie managed to burn the Hawks all by himself early in the third. Leading by just one point, he scored seven consecutive points to lead the Cowboys on a 9-0 run, giving Grantsville a 37-27 lead.
As the other Roberts, Jake, went to work with the ball and was hammered by the over-active North Sanpete defense, he took advantage at the line making 7-of-9 free throws in the quarter to help the Cowboys expand their lead to 48-35 heading into the final quarter.
The quick scoring continued into the fourth quarter as Colson helped Grantsville start the fourth on an 8-1 run with a fast-break lay-up that gave the Cowboys a 20-point lead with 5:42 remaining.
Trailing 56-36, North Sanpete didn’t give up on offense and even cranked up their intensity on defense. Dallen Bird helped the Hawks make a game of it, scoring six points to help fuel a 12-2 run that brought the game within 58-48 with 3:22 remaining in the game.
“We started playing at their level for a while there in the fourth,” Heath said. “We played frustrated and were a little out of control.”
Colson helped bring calm to the Cowboy offense in the final period, scoring eight points and leading Grantsville to a 68-55 victory.
“This is always a tough place to play,” Heath said. “But the win is very important heading into region play — good confidence builder.”
Grantsville opens up Region 11 play hosting Ogden on Friday at 7 p.m.
Jake Gordon: jgordon@tooeletranscript.com
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