SANDY — The Bingham Miners cruised past the Jordan Beetdiggers for a 69-47 win during Friday night’s region matchup, thanks in large part to Branden Carlson’s 20 points.

Both teams started very slow in the first quarter and struggled shooting the ball. Half of the Beetdiggers’ points came from the free-throw line and the majority of the Miners points came from Carlson, who could not be stopped in the paint even while being double teamed. At the end of the first quarter the score was tied, 13-13.

The pace picked up during the second quarter as both teams started getting into a shooting flow. Although Bingham built a significant lead in the early going, the Beetdiggers came back when guard Phuoc Tran checked into the game and provided a spark off the bench and eventually cut the lead to 34-30 before halftime. The Beetdiggers did a good job slowing down Carlson during the second quarter.

The Miners came out strong in the second half and increased the lead. Carlson and Dason Youngblood began to dominate the game as they led the Miners effort during the third quarter. The Beetdiggers struggled with turnovers during the third quarter and were forced into taking low quality shots. The Beetdiggers started to catch on fire towards the end of the quarter when Cameron Blunck came in and made a couple of threes to make the score to 52-40.

Youngblood got the momentum back for the Miners as they dominated the fourth quarter. The Beetdiggers continued to struggle shooting the ball and turnovers that lead the easy fast break points for the Miners blew the game open. Youngblood could not be stopped during the fourth quarter, scoring the majority of his points during the fourth quarter.

Josh Christensen and Cameron Blunck combined for 29 of the 47 points for the Beetdiggers. Carlson, Youngblood and Lleyton Parker combined for 52 of the Miners’ 69 points.

The Miners’ next game is on Tuesday at home against the Copper Hills Grizzlies. The Beetdiggers will be at Cottonwood on Tuesday.