The Grand County High School boys and girls basketball teams learned when and where they would play their first-round state tournament games after their regular seasons concluded. The GCHS boys basketball team lost 99-79 at San Juan on Wednesday, Feb. 5, then fell one point short to heavily favored Emery in a spirited Senior Night Devils Den performance, losing 80-79. Meanwhile, the girls finished their regular season at Emery on Thursday, Feb. 6, falling 84-21.
The boys, with an 8-14 record, including an 0-10 mark in Region 12, finished 15th in RPI in 3A, drawing a home game versus Providence Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 12, where the winner would move on to play Emery at Utah State University-Eastern in Price on Saturday, Feb. 15 at 4:30 p.m. The GCHS girls finished 18th in RPI with a 1-19 record, also 0-10 in Region 12, and their first-round game was at Union on Tuesday, Feb. 11 with the winner facing Judge Memorial on Friday, Feb. 14 at 4:30 p.m., at USU-Eastern.
Versus San Juan, the GCHS boys fell behind by double digits in the first quarter and were unable to come back, despite 37 points and nine rebounds from Kaine Allred, who connected on 13 of his 16 free throws. Ryelan Jones also had 16 points.
The Red Devils left it all on the floor two nights later at home, leading 79-78 before two free throws by Spartan Brax Jensen in the closing seconds clinched the win for Emery. Jensen had 31 points for the Spartans.
With their first and third quarters being Achilles heels all season, GCHS came out firing on Senior Night, ending the opening frame with a 20-14 lead.
The Spartans, No. 2 in 3A RPI, responded in the second quarter to take a 38-35 lead into intermission, before the rivals played an evenly matched third quarter.
Allred was GCHS’s leading scorer, with 27 points, followed by Eli Hazlett with 19 points and Jones with 10 points. The Spartans overcame the Red Devils with rebounding and free throws, out-rebounding GCHS 31-25 and shooting 16-of-23 from the line, while GCHS was 9-of-14. Emery also stole the ball from GCHS 10 times.
In the finale against the Lady Spartans, the GCHS girls team lost 84-21 as Megan Zunich and Josalyn Murphy each scored six points, Tenney Cook had five points and Madison Munger had four points. GCHS out-rebounded Emery 36-29 in the contest.
