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Coming off a win at home before Christmas break, the Emery Spartans traveled to Vernal to face the 4A Uintah Utes. The Spartans used a big second half to make their move coming away with the 72-51 win last Friday.

The Spartans were last on the floor on December 20, when they welcomed the Delta Rabbits to the Spartan Center taking a 62-39 win to move to 2-0 in Region 12 play.

On Friday night the Spartans and Utes played to almost even in the first half, with Emery outscoring Uintah by just two in the first quarter however, both teams played even in the next quarter as Emery took a 32-30 lead into the locker room at half time.

Coming out in the second half the Spartans went to work, putting up 20 in the third and 20 again in the fourth. Defensively, they held Uintah to 21 points total in the second half.

Luke Justice put up 20, grabbing four rebounds and dishing out five assists. Matt Olsen added 16 with a pair of rebounds and one steal. Zack Tuttle and Wade Stilson each scored 10 with Tuttle grabbing six rebounds and five assists, and Stilson had 13 rebounds and four assists.

The Spartans are sitting at 9-1 overall and hold the No. 2 spot in the RPI.

Emery gets back to it on Tuesday when they welcome San Juan to the Spartan Center.

Game time is set for 6 p.m..