Basketball Recap: Uintah Takes a Loss

Uintah was the 66-60 winner over Payson when they last played one another back in January, but their luck changed this time around. The Uintah Utes fell just short of the Payson Lions by a score of 64-61 on Friday. The game was a 36-36 toss-up at halftime, but the Utes couldn't quite close it out.

Dauson Gardiner

Rebounds (Career)

02/07/25 @ Payson	14
12/30/24 @ Morgan	12
11/23/24 @ Richfield	12
12/17/24 vs Union	11
12/06/24 vs Ben Lomond	10

When it comes to explaining why Uintah lost, don't look at Dauson Gardiner. Despite the final result, he dropped a double-double on 13 points and 14 rebounds. Those 14 boards gave Gardiner a new career-high. Gideon Owen was another key player, putting up ten points and five rebounds.

Even though they lost, Uintah was working as a unit and finished the game with 17 assists. The team's really been improving in that area: they've now improved their assist total in three consecutive matchups.

Kade Jenson had a dynamite game for Payson, going 7 of 16 on his way to 17 points along with eight boards and seven assists. The team also got some help courtesy of Joesph Wolfe, who posted 12 points.

Uintah dropped their record down to 14-10 with the defeat, which was their seventh straight on the road. As for Payson, the victory (which was their fourth in a row) raised their record to 17-5.

Looking ahead, Uintah will take on Mountain Crest at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Uintah is facing Mountain Crest at the right time seeing as Mountain Crest is stuck on a five-game losing streak. Payson does not have any more games scheduled as of now.