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Show i..'n.i ' "" The first week of basketball games . for the Uintah Utes started out with great promise as the young Utes were only defeated by five po'ints by the Union Cougars in Roosevelt on Nov. 26, but the first week of hoop action ended on a sad note due to huge losses to Lehi in Vernal, 88 to 68 and Friday, and to Bountiful, Saturday, 75 to 40. Union had a 19-12 lead at the end of the first quarter in the game against Uintah in Roosevelt, but the Utes came back behind 12 points in four minutes by Mike Johnson to take a 26 to 21 lead with 4:01 left in the second quarter. However, Union rallied to tie up the game at 30-30 and went on to win the game by the score of 60 to 55. "It was a good effort, but it wasn't good enough. We turned the ball over and Union scored points on the errors during a five minute period in the second half. Union likes to play the same type of game we do. We have been practicing against full court pressure and that is what hurt us in the game as we committed many turnovers. You have to give Union credit. Their quick guards really hurt us," said Uintah High School basketball coach, Pete Rencher. Union's 60-55 win over Uintah was only the second victory in six games with the Uintah Utes since the 1978-79 season. The Cats' last win over the Utes was a state playoff game at Wasatch High School in 1979. "Uintah is a good club and they are well coached. Coach Rencher is doing a super job with those Uintah basketball players. He had some young kids in the game. I was quite surprised that we got ahead 14 to 4 in the first quarter. We had the momentum in the first quarter and Uintah got it back in the second quarter. We gained the momentum in the third quarter. It was a close ball game in the second half," said Brad Monks, Union High School head basketball coach. Monks added, "Ronnie Gates hit two clutch free throws with ten. seconds left in the game with Uintah and gave us a live point ieaa. ureg tsenon put in some crucial free throws. He connected on eight straight charity tosses in the fourth quarter and missed only one free throw in the final quarter. Our Union basketball players played with a lot of intensity on defense. Defense was one of our high points. The kids were out there hustling and diving after the ball." Johnson was Uintah's high scorer once again in the Utes' second ball game of the year against Lehi as he poured in 32 points on 13 field goals and six free throws. Johnson scored 16 points in the fourth quarter, but the Utes' home opener was a sad affair for the Utes and their fans as Lehi won the game by the score of 88 to 68, Friday. "We make no excuses for losing. We just were out played, out hustled and out coached. The Uintah basketball players don't believe in themselves, yet. We are not going to give up. We are going to be positive about each other and we will work hard and will improve," im-prove," stated Rencher. The Utes battled Bountiful in a game on the road, Saturday and the Uintah team was defeated 75 to 40. "Bountiful was a big slow team, but they beat us down the court. The tallest player on the Bountiful team was 6'4". We have some kids on our Uintah team, who think they don't need to hustle down the court. We are going to make some changes," commented Rencher. Uintah High School's varsity squad is a young team. Starters for the Utes in the game against Union were juniors, Mike Johnson, Roger Walker and Devin Wright; sophomore, Jeff Drollinger anu senior, ouou reierson. two sophomores, Drollinger, Kary Hamilton; two juniors, Johnson, Walker and one senior, Peterson were starters for the Utes in the game against Lehi. Senior, Dave Allen saw a great deal of action in the first three games and juniors, Gary Galley, Dale Crowell; senior, Gary Watkins and sophomore, Steve Yadon completed in the varsity games. The biggest problem for the Utes has been handling the full court press. Uintah committed many dribbling and passing errors in the first three varsity games. The Uintah team has a good scoring attack that features close-in and outside shots, but the Utes have had problems getting the ball down the court so that they can get in position for field goals. The Uintah team can score points. They poured in 68 points in a losing cause in the game with Lehi, but they gave up a lot of points due to double dribbles, bad passes, traveling-and traveling-and other errors, which usually took place before the Utes crossed the midcourt line. When the Utes solve that problem, then should end up on the winning side in basketball games. |
