SMITHFIELD—Behind a strong offensive effort and a smothering defense, the Sky View Bobcats stung the visiting Box Elder Bees, 57-40. Bobcat Kyler Carlsen led all scorers with 18 points, while Box Elder’s Brant Mecham had 16 on the night.

Sky View and Box Elder traded buckets in the first quarter. Carlsen, Nick Eskelson, Garrett Hinton and Brian Godfrey combined for 10 points in the first eight minutes, while Bees Cody Eyre, Matt Clawson and Mecham chalked up 8 points combined during the same period.

In the second quarter, the Bobcats came out firing while Box Elder struggled to keep up. Five different Bobcats chalked up points in the second period, combing for a 15-point quarter. Box Elder’s Mecham and Cody Eyre combined for 6 points during the quarter.

“We drew up a couple offenses that we knew would work against them,” said Carlsen. “We executed the plays right, so it worked out good for us.”

The Bobcats were active on the court, completing multiple hustle plays on the night. In the second quarter, a loose ball bouncing out of bounds was saved by Nick Eskelson, who grabbed the ball and threw it to Carlsen, who found Garrett Hinton wide open under the basket for an easy layup.

Head Coach Kevin Anderson says that plays like that make a big difference. Anderson says he tells his players: “Give us your all when you’re on the floor.”

He continued: “Two of those hustle plays led to five points. I think Kyler had one the first half; [he saved] it from going out of bounds, [and] we get a layup…You know, little things like that are huge. It gets the team excited.”

The Bobcats held a comfortable 11-point lead at halftime, 25-14.

In the third period, the Bees gained little ground. Behind seven points from Mecham, Box Elder put up 15 points in the third quarter. Brad Munns, Chad Talbot and Justus Brown all added points in the quarter. The third quarter was the highest scoring quarter for the Bees. Defense, says Carlsen, was the key.

“We know Mecham is a great player,” said Carlsen. “Nick Eskelson played tough [defense] on him. And holding Mecham to (16) is a pretty good game. I think it all starts there with Mecham and then, I don’t know, we just got into their faces and just tried to get out and pressure them up top.”

Carlsen had ten of the team’s 14 points in third quarter, with Brad Lenkersdorfer adding two more buckets for the Bobcats.

“It was a nice little run for us, and [Carlsen] had some teammates help,” said Anderson. “I remember, we had [Nielsen] who saves that one on the baseline and throws it in and Kyler’s standing there for the three ball, so, you know, things like that go unnoticed.”

He added: “Kyler gets the points, but it’s those little things that [make it] team basketball. We had kids coming off the bench and doing some good things for us. You know, we were in the some foul trouble early on—[Nielsen] and [Lenkersdorfer] and [Bennion]—and we had kids come in and give us a spark and do some solid things for us.”

The Bobcats held a ten-point lead at the end of the third quarter, 39-29, but in the fourth quarter they ran away with it, outscoring the Bees 18-11. Again, five different Bobcats added points in the offensive effort, including Godfrey and Tanner Crockett.

The Bobcats improved to 13-3 on the season. They head to Ogden on Feb. 10, 2010 to face the Ogden Tigers (8-8) at Ogden High School at 7 p.m. Ogden’s boys basketball team hasn’t lost at home yet this season.

“[Ogden is] tough at home, "said Anderson. “I don’t think a region team has gone to Ogden and won this year. We’ve got to focus on what we got to do to prepare for them and have a couple of good practices and hopefully be prepared to go in there. They’re excited right now, because they’re winning some games and they got to win some of these games to move up in the standings; so right now, we’re just going to focus on Ogden and get ready for them.”