The championship hopes for the Emery Spartans came to a close Friday night as they suffered a 56-43 loss to the Summit Academy Bears in the semifinals of the 2A state championship tournament.

Playing in an electric setting in front of a loud crowd, the Spartans jumped out to an early 6-0 lead. The momentum built in the early stages was short lived as Summit Academy ended the quarter on a 10-4 to tie the contest.

Summit Academy managed to take control of the contest moving into half time as they outscored the Spartans 15-9 in the second quarter. Emery regained momentum and chopped the deficit to four heading into the fourth quarter, and climbed within one with less than four minutes to play. That's as close as the Spartans would get as Summit Academy ended the game on a 13-2 run.

Koby Butler registered a double-double for the Spartans despite playing with an illness. Shooting 9-17 from the field, Butler finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Fellow junior Bowdie Jacobson also scored 19 points to go along with four rebounds.

Summit Academy was led by senior guard Darrin Gethers, who finished with 19 points, five assists and three steals. Armani Montgomery scored 12 and Tyranny Pace ended with seven.

The loss sends Emery to the consolation bracket where they will play for third place against the Beaver Beavers for Third place. Emery defeated Beaver back on Dec. 11 40-23. Tip-off for Saturday's season finale is scheduled for a 3:00 pm tip-off.