ETV News Stock Photo Courtesy of Elizabeth Marshall
It was an opportunity of a lifetime for the Spartans on Tuesday when they met up with Enterprise inside of the Vivint Smart Home Arena in downtown Salt Lake City. It was a special afternoon where the teams played on the floor of the Utah Jazz.
Although the atmosphere was amazing, the lights weren’t too bright as both teams were ready to go at tipoff. It was extremely competitive as the squads traded buckets in the early going. Emery then ran into problems in the second quarter as the Wolves continued their attack. Enterprise outscored the Spartans by eight in the period to take a 10-point lead into half.
Give credit to the Spartans, who never hung their heads. They battled back in the third quarter and held Enterprise to just 12 points to pull within four. Emery continued its pressure down the final stretch on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball. The Spartans had their best quarter yet, netting 23 points (an average of nearly three points per minute) while keeping the Wolves to 15. That would be enough for the comeback as Emery defeated Enterprise 69-65.
“It was really fun actually. Kind of takes you back to being a kid again,” commented head coach Dave Justice about Emery’s experience inside Vivint Arena. “The big lights, big gym, it was really cool. I think the kids had a lot of fun with it too.”
Luke Justice scored a game-high 21 points, including three three-pointers. Fellow junior guard Wade Stilson added another 15 points while Zack Tuttle scored nine and Brett Rasmussen scored eight. It will be a quick turn around for the Spartans (8-2) as they head to Blanding on Wednesday night to face San Juan (4-8).