Looking to end the first half of their region slate with a victory, the Carbon Dinos hit the road on Wednesday, Jan. 15 to face the North Sanpete Hawks. In a battle of wills, the Dinos would scrap their way to a 70-61 victory over the Hawks.

Opening the game North Sanpete seized every bit of momentum they could with the home-court advantage, jumping out to an early 19-13 advantage over Carbon. They continued this trend to the finish off the first, holding the Dinos to one more point as they won the quarter 21-14.

Playing in the hostile environment, Carbon tuned out the noise of the packed auditorium as they came out swinging to start the second. Checking into the game for the Dinos was a trio of sophomores Case Griffith, Jackson Bosone and Carter Branch who combined for 13 points off the bench and helped Carbon seize a 34-33 halftime lead.

The Hawks and Dinos would continue to go blow-for-blow throughout the third quarter. For North Sanpete sophomore James Clayton played hero, hitting two timely threes to aid the Hawk’s comeback effort. For Carbon, senior leaders Cannon Mortensen and Even Lancaster would help lead the charge in addition to stellar play from juniors Carter Warburton and Kyler Orth. With neither team backing down the teams would enter the final frame with the Hawks up 49-47.

Not wanting to leave Mt. Pleasant with a loss, the Dinos buckled down and held the Hawks to only 12 points in the final stanza while scoring 23 of their own. This resulted in a 70-61 victory and the first region win for Carbon. 

For the Dinos, Cannon Mortensen would again lead the team in scoring with 15 points, Lancaster finished with 11, Warburton contributed 10, Branch ended with nine, Orth had eight in his first game back from injury and Bosone closed with seven.

With the victory, Carbon moves to 4-12 overall and 1-6 in region play. The Dinos now start the region slate over as they welcome the Juab Wasps (12-4, 5-2 Region 12) to Jurassic Park on Friday, Jan. 17. Live coverage for the game will begin at 6:30 p.m. on KRPX 95.3 the Peak with the Landon’s Diesel Service Pregame show with tipoff following at 7 p.m. The game can also be streamed on YouTube at Castle Country Sports-Carbon.