SMITHFIELD—With the first quarter in the books, the Sky View Bobcats trailed the Ogden Tigers, 8-9. Led offensively by Kyler Carlsen and Nick Eskelson, the Sky View Bobcats took the lead in the second quarter, and extended that lead in the second half to defeat the Tigers at home Friday night, 50-37.

“Defense again tonight was our strong point,” said Sky View head coach Kevin Anderson, noting that the Bobcats held the Tigers to 37 total points.

Spearheaded by Garrett Hinton and Carlsen, the Bobcats jumped out to an early 5-0 lead. The Tigers responded, though, with a free throw from Darinn Gomez and a couple of two-point buckets from Eric Porter and Nathan Kapple to tie the game, 5-5.

Seconds later the Bobcats took the lead again after an Eskelson three-pointer, but the Tigers scored the last two shots of the quarter to take the lead, 8-9.

Carlsen, who had a game-high 16 points, opened up the scoring for the Bobcats in the second quarter with a long jump shot from just inside the three-point line. He followed up that shot with a three-point basket 30 seconds later.

The Tigers were outscored 8-13 in the second quarter. Ogden’s main ball-handler, Jake Buck, scored his only baskets of the game in the second period, both short-range jump shots. Kapple and Nik Allred added a couple of layups for the Tigers, as well.

Allred led all Ogden scorers with 11 points.

Bobcat Brian Godfrey added a three-pointer, and Don Corbell, Eskelson and Hinton all chalked up points in the second quarter to take a halftime lead, 21-17.

“We just talked at halftime about coming out with a little more energy on defense,” said Anderson.

“The first half we didn’t have as much effort on the boards,” added Eskelson. “We gave up a lot of [offensive] boards. Second half I think we clamped down on defense and really limited their opportunities.”

Carlsen also started the Bobcat scoring in the third quarter, getting fouled on a layup and making the basket. He added the free throw for a three-point play.

“We were able to come out that third quarter and get a couple of turnovers and get out and get some easy baskets,” said Anderson. “In a game like that, it’s nice to get some easy baskets.”

He continued: “It seemed like we really had to battle to get some looks tonight. That’s a scrappy team, and they come after you defensively.”

Eskelson, Godfrey and Chris Bennion all added scores in the third period to help the Bobcats put up 15 points in the quarter. Sky View was up eight after three periods, 36-28.

Five different Bobcats scored in the final period. Jordan Nielsen knocked down a free throw, and Hinton, Carlsen, Eskelson and Godfrey pitched in baskets to extend the Bobcat lead.

Ogden’s Gomez and Allred scored seven points in the period, and Porter hit a layup with 20 seconds left to finish up the Tiger offense for the night.

Eskelson discussed the physical play from both teams. “I don’t know if [physical games] play into our strengths,” he said. “We just adjust to the refs and however they call it. We try just to adjust to it and play our kind of game and just try and get in synch and get the flow of the game going.”

The Bobcats did well at distributing the ball to open teammates with 13 assists on 17 made baskets. Eskelson and Godfrey had four assists each. Sky View also had seven steals on the night, three of which came from Hinton. Corbell blocked two shots on the night.

The Bobcats (10-2) host Cache County-rival Mountain Crest (8-3) on Wednesday, Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. The Bobcats dropped the first meeting against the Mustangs at Mountain Crest.

“We got a big game coming up,” said Anderson. "Mountain Crest is coming here. We’ve just got to prepare and play better than we did out there last time we played them. We’re not going to change a whole lot; we’re just going to fine tune what we’re doing.