Hawks get inspiring second-half surge for win over No. Sevier,
but fall to Carbon, 77-67
By Rhett Wilkinson
Staff writer
12-16-2020
The North Sanpete boys’ basketball team came back with an inspiring second half run to defeat North Sevier, 67-56, last week, but fell short at Carbon, 77-67.
After taking an 18-9 lead after the first quarter, the North Sanpete Hawks tried a different type of defense against North Sevier that they had been working on, departing from the man-to-man defense they had been playing.
It backfired.
The Hawks were outscored 26-14 in the second quarter and trailed at halftime after a steal and subsequent layup from the Wolves at the buzzer put North Sanpete down 35-32 at intermission.
“Our kids weren’t rotating right,” North Sanpete Coach Cris Hoopes said. “[North Sevier] moved the ball against [the defensive scheme] and made it look pretty stupid. Once they start hitting shots, it just gets bad.”
“We were trying to do some different things and it just wasn’t working,” Hoopes said. “In the second half, we didn’t do any more of that.”
The Hawks (2-1) fired back with an 18-6 third quarter en route to a 67-56 win over the Wolves (2-2) Wednesday, Dec. 9.
Dallon Steadman led North Sanpete with 14 points (on 7-of-8 shooting), seven rebounds and a steal. Landon Bowles had 12 points (on 4-of-5 shooting) and seven rebounds. Also, Brady Jacobson had nine points, three assists and two steals; Trevin Morley had eight points, three rebounds and three assists; Isaac Applegarth had seven points and five rebounds; and Tyrel Morley had five rebounds, according to MaxPreps.
For North Sevier, Marshall Okerlund had 14 points, four rebounds, four assists and a steal but also committed five turnovers; Brody Butler tallied 14 points and three rebounds and Ethan Fielding had nine points and five rebounds, according to MaxPreps.
Steadman scored six points in less than three-and-a-half minutes up until less than a minute left in the game to help stave off any potential Wolf comeback.
“We were just moving the ball well as a team and I got open,” Steadman said. “I was just able to … get the layups.”
What did Steadman think of his 14-point outing in its entirety?
“I was just hustling and trying to get every board I could and was looking to finish well,” he said. “I was in the right place and working hard.”
Hoopes described Steadman as “a big body” and said he has “really worked hard.” Hoopes noted that Steadman put on 35 pounds of muscle this past summer.
“He really lifted hard and it shows,” Hoopes said. “He’s just a big force in there and when our guys can move the ball and find him for layups and when he’s deep in the post, there’s not many kids that are going to push him out.”
The Hawks out-rebounded the Wolves 34-14, according to MaxPreps. It was needed, Hoopes said, since North Sevier committed just 10 turnovers, according to MaxPreps.
Hoopes said North Sevier is “extremely good at not making bad decisions.”
“They are good at executing and those things and they slow you down a little bit,” Hoopes said.
Steadman said the Wolves, which advanced to the state semifinals last season, “showed [us] what we need to work on and what we need to fix and also showed what we were doing good at.”
Hoopes said North Sevier was a “good test.”
“Our team is about improving week to week,” Hoopes said. “That comes as a result of playing as a group.”
North Sevier attempted just 10 free throws (making six).
When the Hawks fell 77-67 to the Carbon Dinos, Trevin Morley scored 28 points on 11-of-17 shooting for North Sanpete (adding four rebounds, three assists and two steals). But the Hawks shot just 5-of-14 from the free throw line, whereas Preston Condie went an astounding 17-of-18 and Noah Bradford, 11-of-12 for the Dinos (for 31 and 21 points, respectively). Overall, Carbon (3-1) shot 37-of-42 from the charity stripe, according to MaxPreps.
Steadman, who besides leading North Sanpete in scoring against North Sevier, also is a starting post player, dealt with foul trouble. He picked up his second foul four-and-a-half minutes into the contest.
Hoopes did not return a request for comment.
For the Hawks, Tyrel Morley scored 11 points while grabbing four rebounds and nabbing a steal. Jacobson had eight points, three steals and three assists. Bowles had eight points. Keenan Hatch, who is 6’10,” according to the Deseret News, scored six points and grabbed seven rebounds while Max Lancaster had six points, five rebounds and a steal for the Dinos. Also for Carbon, Condie and Merrick Morgan each grabbed eight rebounds while Caleb Winfrey had seven assists, four rebounds and a steal, according to MaxPreps.
North Sanpete’s deficit was 73-61 after Condie made a reverse layup after the Dinos broke a North Sanpete press.
The Hawks responded with a 3-pointer, however. Then Bowles made a free throw; and North Sanpete scored after getting a steal immediately after an inbounds pass.
It made the score 73-67 Carbon with 33.2 seconds left in the contest. Then the Dinos’ Caleb Winfree missed both free throws, giving the Hawks the ball down just two possessions with a half-minute to go.
But a 3-point attempt didn’t fall. Condie made two free throws after a subsequent foul to seal the game.
North Sanpete next faces Manti (3-1) at home at 7 p.m. Wednesday before traveling to Maeser Prep (0-6) at 7 p.m. Friday. The Hawks return home to face Emery (2-2) at 7 p.m. Saturday and Richfield (2-5) at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
