On Wednesday night, the Emery Spartans and Pinnacle Panthers met for the first time on the basketball court. Pinnacle turned in a gritty effort for three quarters, but in the fourth, the Spartans pulled away for a 68-48 victory.
Emery now sits at 9-5 overall and holds on to the No. 4 spot in the latest rankings from MaxPreps and the Utah High School Activities Association. Pinnacle is sitting at 7-4 and is just on the outside of the top ten in the rankings at No. 11.
Emery came into this game with a slightly different lineup due to suspensions, but the Spartans had the next-man-up mentality. Both teams came out in the first quarter and matched each other point-for-point, ending tied at 11. In the second quarter, Emery started to get its footing, opening up the offense a bit more and adding 19 to take a 30-22 lead into the locker room at halftime.
In the second half, Pinnacle came out looking to make a move, but the Spartans were also, and even though the Panthers would outscore the Spartans, Emery still had a seven-point lead as the two teams headed into the fourth. The Panthers came into the final period having given the Spartans everything they had, and in the fourth, they came up short after playing their starters all game, adding only eight as the Spartans pulled away for a 68-48 win.
For the Panthers, Brody Howell and Diego Contreras led the way with 12 each. Dominick Vigil and Bryson Shumway each scored 11, and Joey Howell scored 2 in the loss.
Maddex Taney scored 13 of his game-high 19 in the third quarter to lead the Spartans. Ben Johnson scored 14, and Kai Whitsel had 12 on four three-pointers.
Coach Todd Huntington, who led the Spartans, said the team knew what they were in for against Pinnacle.
“Pinnacle’s a good team, their record indicates that right, I mean, I think they came in seven and three, and they’re going to win some games, they got some kids that can really fill it up, so credit to them. They gave us all we wanted and more. I think any time you come in, and maybe you’re a little bit overmatched, you can really only hope to force the other team to make adjustments and coach their perimeter shooting. In that third quarter, when they come out and hit the two threes and cut it down to five, we knew we had to do something different.”
Emery will now jump into region play on Friday when they travel to face the Manti Templars.
You can catch the action live on KOAL 107.3 FM or 750 AM and 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.