On Friday night, in front of the home crowd at the Spartan Center, the Emery Spartan boys’ basketball squad welcomed the North Sanpete Hawks. North Sanpete came out aggressive in the first half, but the Spartans fought back in the second half and overtime to grind out the 53-49 win.

North Sanpete entered the contest with a 3-7 overall and Emery had owned a 6-8 record.

North Sanpete was in control early but the Spartans were still able to earn a slight edge in the first quarter 13-12. In the next period, the Hawks continued the scoring clips that they started in the first, putting up 12 points and turned up the defense as the Spartans struggled to find the bottom of the basket as North Sanpete held the Spartans to seven points and took a 24-20 lead to the locker room at half time.

In the second half, neither team could create space from the other as they battled to a draw in the third quarter each team scored nine and North Sanpete still held a four-point lead 33-29.  Moving into the fourth, the Spartans were able to get back into the contest. Scott Johansen had seven points in the second half and none more important than his final three when he got the bucket and was fouled, hitting the free throw to give the Spartans a 44-41 lead with 28 seconds left. After a time out the Hawks would take the ball down and were able to set their offense and find Ridge Hendry for three to tie things up at 44-44.

In the overtime period, the Spartans took control of the situation scoring nine points and taking the contest 53-49.

Jace Frandsen led the way for the Spartans with 16 points, he also pulled down five rebounds. West Johansen had 13 with 10 rebounds and Scott Johansen added 10 with ten rebounds.

Emery will travel to Nephi on Wednesday to face the Juab Wasps in a Region 12 tilt. Juab holds the No. 2 spot in the RPI and carries a 12-3 overall record.

The Landon’s Diesel Pre-game Show will start at 6:30 with tip-off scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on KOAL 107.3 FM or 750 AM as well as streaming at castlecountryradio.com or on the Castle Country Radio app. You can also catch the video stream live on our YouTube channel Castle Country Sports- Emery.