Hawks bounce back twice to
take wins over San Juan, Grand
By James Tilson
Staff writer
Jan. 11, 2018
MT PLEASANT—The North Sanpete boys basketball team won two games last weekend against San Juan High, 78-64, and Grand County High, 58-48.
And the Hawks showed they were able to bounce back after a bruising 92-42 loss against South Sevier High to start conference play earlier in the week.
Coach Cris Hoopes said his team “handled playing three games in four days [pretty] well.”
Nonetheless, the three-game stretch did not start out well.
On Wednesday, Jan. 3, the South Sevier Rams jumped out to a 26-3 lead in the first quarter and never relinquished the lead, easily winning by 50 points.
The Rams are 2-0 in Region 15 conference play and 11-1 overall and are ranked No. 18 in the state.
None of the Hawks scored in double figures that night, and overall it was just a bad road trip.
The Hawks looked to get back on the winning streak for the weekend and hosted the San Juan Broncos on Friday Jan. 5.
Friday night at home was a much different story, as it was the Hawks this time that jumped out to an early lead and kept their foot on the gas to win by a final score of 78-64.
The Hawks did much better in scoring, with Spencer Steadman leading the way with 20 points, and Jalen Sorensen and Shawn Taylor right behind with 18 and 15, respectively. Taylor also had nine rebounds and 10 assists to lead the team in both categories, and Sorensen had four threes.
On Saturday night, Jan. 6, the Hawks hosted the Grand County Red Devils.
This game started out differently than the other two, as neither team could get on track early, and they grinded out to an 8-8 tie to end the first quarter.
In the second quarter, both teams heated up and started scoring. North Sanpete switched to its signature pressure defense and began getting steals and transition buckets to claw out to a five-point lead at the half.
The second half saw more of the same, as both teams fought for the lead. But the Hawks kept up the pressure and slowly inched away from the Red Devils, eventually winning by 10 points, 58-48.
Hoopes pointed out that conference play is going to be tough every night: “All the teams in our region are really good. We have to be prepared every night.”
After the weekend, the Hawks stood at 2-1 in conference play, second in Region 15 behind South Sevier.
North Sanpete’s next game was yesterday at Emery High (score unavailable).
