It was another overtime contest for the Spartans on Friday night in Manti. The Spartans led for most of the contest, but the Templars found a way to come back and force overtime and take a 59-50 win.

Emery slips to 9-10 overall, holds a 6-4 record in Region 12, and holds the No. 8 spot in the latest RPI. Emery had strung together five wins in a row before their loss on Wednesday to Richfield and were looking to get back on track against the Templars.

The Spartans came out firing in the first quarter, scoring 14 and holding the Templars to just four points. Manti came out in the second quarter, fueled by the volume of the home crowd, who carried them throughout the night and cut the Spartan lead to 23-17 at halftime.

In the second half, The Templars slowly started to take control of the game. The third was where they took the biggest chunk out of the Spartans’ lead outscoring Emery by five and headed to the fourth quarter down by just one. Both teams would turn up their defensive intensity in the final eight minutes of regulation and throughout the night Manti would launch up three-pointers one after another none bigger than Parker Anderson’s with 2:30 to tie up the game at 44-44, and both teams would go scoreless taking the game into overtime.

In the overtime period, Manti took over outscoring the Spartans 15-6 taking the overtime win 59-50.

West Johansen led the Spartans with 15 in the contest. Scott Johansen scored 14 and Jace Frandsen scored 10 in the loss.

Emery heads back out on the road on Wednesday with the long road trip to Cedar City to take on Canyon View (15-4, No. 3). On January 3, The Falcons came to the Spartan Center and handed Emery a 70-51 loss.

Coverage of Wednesday’s game at Canyon View begins with the Landon’s Diesel Service Pre-game Show at 6:30, tip-off at 7:00. Audio is available on KOAL 107.3 FM or 750 AM, as well as castlecountryradio.com and the Castle Country Radio app. The video stream will be available on our YouTube channel- Castle Country Sports- Emery.