The Spartans met a familiar foe, South Sevier, in the Quarterfinals of the State Playoffs. Emery beat the Rams in both of the previous two meetings, but needed to come from behind each time.
South Sevier came out with a unique defensive alignment to start the contest. The Rams put an additional defender on Brax Jensen to keep him out of the lane. The strategy was successful until Seth Justice began to make the Rams pay. Justice was left open due to the extra body on Jensen, and took advantage of the space. He hit three three-point shots in the first half alone.
Neither team got off to a quick start as the Rams took a 12-10 lead after one quarter. Justice was the spark the Spartans needed in the second quarter as they went into halftime up, 27-18. Emery did not waste any time in the final half. The Spartans hit three straight three-pointers to open up the half, two by Justice and one by Jordan Ekker. Before the Rams knew what happened, Emery had doubled them up, 36-18.
Emery exploded with 26 points in the third quarter and lead by as much as 20. The Spartans controlled the game and punched their ticket to the semifinals with their 65-51 victory.
Justice had a game-high 18 points followed by 15 from Jensen and 13 from Ekker. Riggs Griffen had a good game with nine points while Kyler Wilstead recorded 11 rebounds.
The Spartans will play at 9:10 p.m. tomorrow evening against Richfield.
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- Photos by Dusty Butler
