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Show BIO Wednesday, February 9, 2005 and Down Week for Utes u Up The Uintah High School boys basketball team had a week of disappointment as they fell to the Granite Farmers on Tuesday 53-55 and then bounced back to pull off a great win against Park City on Friday 64-59. Tuesday's game had a wide array of emotions as the Utes fell behind early and went into the half with a 12 point deficit, defi-cit, 35-23. Granite was led by a hot-shooting Keith Williams who had 14 first half points. The Utes remained within striking distance behind the play and sharp shooting of Alex Spendlove who had 9 first half points. Granite was determined deter-mined to stop the inside play of the Utes, leaving some open shots on the perimeter for the Utes. The strong-willed Utes came out of the locker room determined to chip away at the Granite lead and they held the Farmers to 6 third quarter-points. quarter-points. "We turned up the defensive intensity and tried to keep the ball out of William's hands," said Coach Scott Mansfield. The Utes entered the fourth quarter behind by 8 points but had gained some momentum to make things interesting. They came out in the fourth and mounted a raging comeback come-back as Alex Spendlove and Skyler Seitz each connected on two 3-point baskets and had some solid inside play from Kevin Labrum. With 35 seconds sec-onds remaining in the game, ' Senior Mason Smuin 810 fakes out a Park scored 16 points in the game. Dez Pitt wrestles strong against top j iMmiiiffiiiiiWn"",-rr'1""jK st cw-ftssfifti; ' Iff J ' the Utes held a three point lead. Granite then tied the game on a three-point shot by the sharp shooting Cory Waddoups with 15 seconds remaining. The Utes had a costly turnover on the inbounds pass and the Farmers immediately converted the eventual game winning basket. bas-ket. The Utes had 10 seconds to get off a game winning or tying shot. They managed to get a shot from the corner that rimmed out and Granite pulled off the win. "Everyone gave a great effort in the second half to get back into the game and to give ourselves a chance to win," Mansfield said. "I was pleased with our effort". The Utes were led in scoring by Alex Spendlove who scored 15 points on five 3-point baskets. Kevin Labrum added 10, Mason Smuin had 9, Skyler Seitz 8, Weston Hadlock 7 and Griffin Brady chipped in 4 points. Friday was the next chance for the Utes to take the floor as they hosted the Miners from Park City. Park City came into the game fresh off of an upset of the Union Cougars and. were playing with a lot of confidence. The Utes were up to the task as they came out on fire and took an 18-12 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Utes had 5 players score in the quarter led by Griffin Brady with 6 first quarter points. The Utes continued con-tinued their dominance in the second quarter and took a 34-21 lead into the locker room at City player on his way to score 2. Smuin wrestler in state. halftime. The Utes found themselves them-selves in an unfamiliar spot playing with a lead as they had become accustomed to playing catch up after slow starts, and for the most part, they handled the new situation well. "There were some times when we lost composure with the Park City press early in the third and fourth quarters," Mansfield said, "but we made some big shots and had some big stops defensively when we needed them." The Utes held off a late flurry of three-point baskets and unnecessary free throws by the Miners to preserve pre-serve a 64-59 win. "We made some mistakes at the end of the game, fouling players that we didn't need to foul, and almost lost our lead, but we stuck together to hold on for the win. This was a great learning experience for our younger players," said Mansfield. The Utes had a balanced scoring attack with three players play-ers in double figures led by Griffin Brady scoring 18, Mason Smuin right behind with 16 and Weston Hadlock with 10. Other contributions were made as Kevin Labrum added 8, Alex Spendlove 5, Curtis Hautamaki 4 and Skyler Seitz 3. This was a team win for the Utes as everyone contributed in different ways. Alex Spendlove drew a difficult assignment to guard a tough Park City player and held him to 6 points through the first 3 quarters. Mason Smuin also had to guard a bigger Park City player and had a great game defensively and running the Utes offense. The Utes also received big contributions from some younger young-er players as Griffin Brady played his best scoring game of the year and also pulled down 10 rebounds. Curtis Hautamaki got a couple baskets and rebounds. The team made some big foul shots as Weston Hadlock was 4 4, Mason Smuin was 2-2, Skyler Seitz went 3-4 and Griffin Brady 2-2 all in the fourth quarter. "This was a great win for us and will give us some confidence confi-dence going into a big game with Union," commented coach Mansfield. The Utes will travel to Roosevelt to face Union on Tuesday, Feb. 8, and then finish their region schedule by hosting host-ing Wasatch on Friday, Feb. 11 for senior night. - - M'. .. ' . Junior Kevin Labrum 840 goes to the rim for 2 of his 8 points against Park City. HW..'.iww;' ,, Via w ) P ) " VSs-SS-l ..I .,,1 - - - - XX" .Xli'x, Sophomore Griffin Brady 850 blocks a Park kr ! ' ' "' Levi Mele, right, goes for the takedown against Wasatch wrestler at Region Ub fit all The Uintah High wrestling team placed five in first during the Region 10 Tournament last Saturday at Union High School, but it wasn't enough to defeat Wasatch. Uintah scored 305 to take second and Wasatch scored 325. Uintah's Phillip Keddy was strong at the tournament, defeating his Wasatch opponent 6-4 in the championship match. "He has been our team leader all year long at 171," said Coach Greg Stensgard. "Unless he gets caught, I believe there is no stopping him at the State Tournament." At 103 Ryan Young also , defeated . his opponent from Wasatch in the championship round. "He is solid at 103," Stensgard said. V I City player's shot. Griffin Brady scored 18 At 112 Levi Mele had a strong tournament. "I don't see anyone who can defeat him at State," Stensgard said. At 119 Dez Pitt wrestled well the entire tournament, but in the championship round he was ahead of the number one wrestler in the state, when he was caught off guard. Pitt placed second. Czyz Woody took first at 135. "When Czyz wrestles his style, he is very difficult to defeat," said Stensgard. Eric Sharp took third at 140 and Chance Rinderknecht took third at 125. Colton Tracey took third at 145 and Chance Caldwell took second at 152. Jared Ruppe took second at 160. At 189 Jared McCurdy took first. Other going to state with takes it points against Park City. Tournament. Uintah are Zack Reynolds, 103, Brandon Adams 112 and James Evans, 189. The Utes took 17 to the Region Tournament and 15 qualified for state. "It's just bad luck this year that we are unable to fill all weight classes," Stensgard said. "Wasatch is very difficult to beat because they don't have a weak weight class. "We are going all out at the State tournament," Stensgard said. "Anything is possible, but for us to take State, everyone will have to wrestle well." The State Tournament begins Thursday, Feb. 10. Wrestling will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday and all day Saturday. The final will begin at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. a! |