The Coach Dave Justice era began on Friday night at the Spartan Center as Emery welcomed the South Summit Wildcats. Emery got out to a 10-5 lead at the end of one but methodically the Wildcats would chip away at the Spartans and take the 54-40 win.
The Spartans have just three returning seniors this season. Ryker Jensen, Kysen Curtis and Jace Mangum will suit up in the black and yellow for their final campaign, and while Justice is excited for the underclassmen to step up they will be leaning on the trio this year.
“We only have three seniors, but we’re super confident in our seniors. We’re kind of expecting Kysen to be our man for us, our leader, especially with Kysen, Ryker and Jace to kind of express our senior leadership”, Justice said recently on KOAL’s Drive Time Sports.
In the contest with South Summit the Spartans we’re down just two points at the half. Unfortunately the Spartans had problems protecting the ball committing 27 turnovers in the contest.
The third quarter was when in Emery fell down being outscored 18-8 by the Wildcats. In the fourth the Spartans would come up with 14 but had already fell to far behind to come back.
Curtis led the way for the Spartans with 12 points and seven rebounds, 6’6” junior Brett Rasmussen added nine and pulled down 16 rebounds. Sophomore Luke Justice added six points and four boards.
On Tuesday they will travel to Draper to face the Juan Diego Soaring Eagle.
Coming off a semi-final loss to eventual 4A State Champion Desert Hills in the playoffs last season, the Soaring Eagle dropped down to 3A this year.
After Juan Diego they will go back to the court on December 3, when they travel to Nephi to take on the Juab Wasps, the defending 3A State Champions.
The Spartans won’t be back on their home floor until Dec. 15 when they welcome American Leadership Academy to Castle Dale.
You’ll be able to catch all the action of the game with Juan Diego on KOAL 107.3 FM and 750 AM on Tuesday night starting at 6:30 with the Landon’s Diesel Pre-game and then tip-off will follow at 7. You can also stream the action at castlecountryradio.com