BY MICHAEL DAVID

 The Carey Panther boy’s basketball team took their 5-2 league record into the Fish Tank Tuesday night looking to defeat their Sawtooth Conference rival Sun Valley Community School Cutthroats.

 The hosts played the Panthers tight for the first half, but the visitors pulled away in the third quarter for a 53-33 victory. Carey improved their season record to 12-6 overall and 6-2 in conference play. The young Cutthroats are still looking for their first victory of the season against eight losses.

 Much to the delight of the home crowd, the Cutthroats opened the scoring with a three-pointer from sophomore Wilson Baker (11 points). After a bucket from Carey’s Hunter Smith (19 points), SVCS’s Braden Buchanan (5 points) hit a three of his own to give the Cutthroats the early 6-2 lead.

 But the Panthers, spurred on by a large contingent of Carey faithful, began to claw their way back into the contest behind the scoring of Smith and junior Brigham Parke (15 points), taking the lead midway through the first quarter.

 SVCS continued to battle as junior Eli Fuller (6 points) flexed his muscles inside with two buckets in the paint to keep the Cutthroats within four points at the end of the quarter, 18-14.

 Sophomore Sid Tomlinson showed off his inside game in the second stanza, scoring all of his six points in the period only to be matched by Panther junior guard Dallin Parke (10 points). And Smith and Carey extended their lead to 28-20 heading into the halftime intermission.

 Brigham Parke and Hunter Smith turned up the intensity on both ends of the floor in the third, spurring a 25-1 run that put the game out of reach. The Cutthroats displayed great heart in the final period, outscoring the Panthers 12-0 to make the final 53-33 in favor of Carey.

 Carson Simpson (2 points), Jesus Villanueva (3 points), Eli Cutler (2 points) also scored for Carey. Zach Younger chipped in 2 points for the Cutthroats.

 Next up for Carey is a home game against Castleford on Thursday, Jan. 30. They will be on the road against Butte County on Monday, Feb. 3. The Cutthroats wrap up the regular season on Thursday at home against Hagerman.