The Murray Spartans took a 21-point defeat the last time they faced off against the Tooele Buffaloes, but they managed to turn things around on Wednesday. Murray had just enough and edged Tooele out 75-73. Given Murray's advantage in MaxPreps' Utah basketball rankings (they are ranked 35th, while Tooele is ranked 114th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Murray's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Quinton Christman led the charge by going 6 for 9 from beyond the arc en route to 25 points and 5 assists. The team also got some help courtesy of Isaiah Beh, who dropped a double-double on 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Despite the loss, Tooele still got an impressive performance from Ethan B rogers, who almost dropped a double-double on 32 points and nine rebounds. That was a full 43.8% of Tooele's points, marking the third time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Dillon Polson, who scored 19 points.
Even though they lost, Tooele were working as a unit and finished the game with 19 assists. This was only their 12th loss (out of 16 games) when they've passed the ball that well.
Murray is on a roll lately: they've won seven of their last eight contests, which provided a nice bump to their 14-6 record this season. As for Tooele, they are on a five-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 4-16.
Both teams will have to hit the road in their upcoming games. Murray will square off against Park City at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Murray is coming into the game with three straight wins on the road, meaning Park City will have to defend against a squad hungry for a win. As for Tooele, they will challenge Hillcrest at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Hopefully Tooele focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 22 on Wednesday.
