On Wednesday evening, the Emery Spartan boys basketball squad welcomed the Manti Templars. Manti entered ranked No. 11, but they are first in Region 13 play with a 4-2 record. The game was played very evenly throughout all four quarters, coming down to the final eight minutes, when Emery earned the 59-57 win.
With the win, Emery sits at 12-8 overall with a 3-2 mark in Region 13 play and holds the No. 5 spot in the latest rankings from MaxPreps and the Utah High School Activities Association. The Spartans have three games left in the regular season before the postseason starts on February 13th.
In the first quarter, the two teams spent time reacquainting themselves. This was the second time they had met this season. On January 9th in Manti, Emery left their gym with a 76-61 win, handing them their first region loss of the season. Both teams came out and played to a standstill through the period, and the quarter ended tight, tied 11-11. In the second quarter, neither team was willing to give an inch, and with 40 seconds left, a foul on Carter Mason, who would finish with 22 points for the Templars, sent him to the line for two, where he made the first and missed the second. After a Manti turnover, Brek Griffin would add a bucket to give the Spartans the 29-28 lead heading to the locker room at halftime.
Coming out of the break, Manti was looking to make things happen, and they did just that as both teams went back and forth once again in this hotly contested game. Manti would win the quarter 16-13 and take a 44-42 lead into the fourth quarter. The fourth quarter was a blur. Both teams had a sense of urgency, and the score went back and forth until Will Barton of Manti hit a three-pointer with 1.5 seconds left, cutting the Spartan lead to 58-57. On the long inbound pass, Griffin was fouled, sending him to the line, where he hit the first, and after a timeout, intentionally missed the second, as a long pass by the Templars was intercepted, giving the Spartans a 59-57 win.
Porter Sitterud led the charge for Emery with 16. Brek Griffin added 15, and Ajay Thomas and Ben Johansen each had 11 in the big victory.
After the win, Coach Dave Justice joined the broadcast booth to talk about the next game on the schedule, Union.
“Obviously, we’ve got to shut down the Oakey kid, we can’t have him go off, we’ve got to run him out on some different stuff. I think that’s more of the game plan we did tonight; we threw a couple more defenses. We call it our “Spider” 1-2-2, threw a little man and switched it up a little bit, try to keep them off balance, make those shots difficult and not as comfortable as possible.”
Emery faces the Union Cougars on Friday in Roosevelt. Union will enter the contest 9-11 and 4-2 in region play. The last time these two teams met, Union left the Spartan Center with a 68-63 victory.
You can catch the action live on KOAL 107.3 FM or 750 AM, and on a live video stream on our YouTube channel, Castle Country Radio – Emery.
The Landon’s Diesel Pre-game show will begin at 6:30 with tip-off to follow at 7:00 p.m.
You can watch the full game against Manti by using the player below: