This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Kearns • The Kearns' boys' basketball team turned a low-scoring opening period into a lopsided contest and coasted to a 66-53 home victory over Grantsville.

"We came in, everyone was focused, had a good attitude," said senior Mikey Hernandez, who scored 14 points for the Cougars (4-3).

Grantsville (5-4) was down by only a point, at 9-8, after Brady Arbon hit a shot with a couple of minutes left in the first period. Hernandez broke loose for a layup, precipitated by a Cowboys' turnover, with 1:10 left — a bucket that was the beginning of a 12-0 run that took place before the buzzer sounded to end the quarter.

Kearns' defensive pressure forced Grantsville miscues and led to the Cougars' easy baskets on the other end.

Hernandez scored six of the dozen points during that run and, made a three-point play to start the second with a 24-8 Kearns lead.

The Cowboys scored three points, and the Cougars responded with nine more in a row.

"We've got three excellent shooters, maybe more," Hernandez said. "We've got a lot of outside shooters and I think we can knock them down."

Kearns coach Dan Cosby's team hasn't yet been able to practice with all available players.

"I think in the first half we showed a lot of effort. We took a loss against Springville and that was our focus in practice," Cosby said. "We haven't had our starters have a full practice yet. We've had guys with concussions, guys out, guys sick with the flu. We're going through some growing pains right now."

Eshaya Wada led Kearns with 15 points and five rebounds. Majok Kuath also reached double figures, with 10 points and eight rebounds.

Grantsville — which outscored the home team by seven points in the second half — got 12 points from Jared Roberts and 10 apiece from Arbon and Trevor Colson.

"We knew coming in here that Kearns would be a tough game for us. We played them last year at our place and battled with them — had a last second shot that rimmed out," Grantsville coach Bryan Detweiler said. "I guarantee that Kearns did not overlook Grantsville in this matchup." —

Storylines

R Kearns registered a 24-3 run in the first half to take control.

• Eshaya Wada led the Cougars with 15 points and teammate Mikey Hernandez added 14.

• Grantsville was led by Jared Roberts' 12 points and Brady Arbon and Trevor Colson's 10 each.