The Spartan boys’ basketball squad started their 2024-2025 season on Wednesday night in Kamas, taking on the South Summit Wildcats. Led by senior Logan Woolstenhulme and his game-high 31 points, the Wildcats had an answer for everything the Spartans threw at them and handed Emery the season-opening loss 73-56.
Emery closed out last season 20-7 overall and went 10-4 putting them in a tie for second place in Region 12. They also held the No. 2 spot in the final RPI and fell to eventual State Champion Judge Memorial in the quarterfinals, ending their season in sixth place with a loss against Manti. South Summit ended 23-4 going 7-3 in Region 13, and they earned the No.1 overall spot in the final RPI falling to Judge Memorial in the championship game.
On Tuesday night, the Spartans scored the first two points in the quarter off of a pair of foul shots from Scott Johansen at the seven-minute mark and Emery wouldn’t score again until there were 2:36 left in the first quarter when Jace Frandsen would hit a three-pointer to stop the Wildcat 13-0 run and put the score at 13-5. The Spartans had a nice run at the end of the quarter to cut the lead to five at 20-15 after one.
In the second quarter, South Summit opened on an 8-2 run that ended with a three-pointer by Devin Rasmussen with just under five minutes left. Rasmussen went four of four from behind the arc in the contest. This quarter was another where South Summit matched Emery’s intensity at every turn pushing through to halftime where they held on to a 46-33 lead going to the locker room.
Coming out of the half, Emery was looking to cut into the Wildcat lead and they outscored South Summit, but once again the Wildcats had built a lead to the point that they could keep the Spartans at arm’s length as they moved into the final eight minutes up 58-47.
The fourth quarter was more of the same as Emery would put forth the herculean effort to mount a comeback and was stopped at every opportunity by South Summit, a team that people seem to think will be able to return to the Championship game in February and finish the job they started last season. The Spartans did what they could to come back on the Wildcats but fell 73-56.
Rasmussen collected 16 points in the contest with the majority coming in the first half. Jace Frandsen added 15 and West Johansen had six and pulled down five boards. Braxton Butler had eight rebounds in the loss.
Emery will be back on the road on Friday when they will travel to Morgan to face the Trojans.
They will be back on the floor on Wednesday when Providence Hall comes to the Spartan Center.