The Emery boys suffered a tough loss last week to American Leadership on the road in their final non-region contest of the season. Wednesday they were back on the road to open the region portion of the schedule against the Richfield Wildcats. Richfield is always tough and when you have to travel to face them at home it's even tougher. There were moments when it look like the Spartans would claim victory but, it wasn't meant to be and the Spartans were handed a tough 67-64 loss.

The Spartans are 9-4 with a 0-1 region mark and they sit in the No.4 spot. Richfield is currently No. 2 with a 10-3 record.

In the first, the Spartans got off to a great start going on a 13-4 run to start the quarter and they held a 17-13 lead after one. In the second quarter, Emery's point production trailed off a bit and Richfield got back into the game with a 21-9 run in the last five minutes of the quarter that allowed them to take a 38-30 lead at the half.

In the third, Emery had trouble with their offense putting up just 10 in the quarter, unfortunately the Wildcats did not, putting up 16 and expanding their lead to 54-40 heading into the final eight minutes.

Emery had a great fourth, scoring 24 in the quarter but they could never quite catch up to Richfield falling 67-64.

Wade Stilson led all scorers with 31 on 14-21 shooting and added four rebounds. Brett Rasmussen had a double double with 10 points and 10 rebounds and  Talon Tuttle  had eight.

The boys will get the chance to earn that first region win on Friday night when they host the Canyon View Falcons.