The Payson Lions's recent rough patch got a bit rougher on Tuesday after their fourth straight loss. They fell just short of Juab by a score of 74-71. Having run the score up that high, both teams probably have some extra defensive drills coming up.
Several Lions players turned in solid performances, despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Joseph Wolfe, who scored 17 points. That's the first time this season that Wolfe scored 15 or more points. Zandon Theobald was another key contributor, scoring 12 points along with six rebounds.
Even though they lost, Payson were working as a unit and finished the game with 24 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.
Austin Park was his usual excellent self, scoring 23 points along with five assists for Juab. Park has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last three times he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Kanyon Mattinson, who scored 13 points along with five rebounds.
Payson's loss dropped their record down to 2-7. As for Juab, they pushed their record up to 6-2 with that win, which was their seventh straight on the road dating back to last season.
Payson will get a bit of extra time to process the loss as their next game is a ways off. They'll take on Summit Academy at 7:00 p.m. on January 5, 2024. Juab won't have much time to rest: their next game is against Carbon at 7:00 p.m. on December 20th. Carbon is strutting with some offensive muscle, as they've averaged 53.8 points per game.
