Basketball Recap: Make It Seven in a Row for Murray

Spartans

Previous Games

01/28/25 vs Cottonwood	58-51
01/21/25 @ Jordan	74-57
01/17/25 vs Hillcrest	56-49
01/14/25 @ Park City	84-62
01/10/25 vs Tooele	73-54
+ 2 more games

Murray came tearing into Tuesday's contest with six straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 11.8 points) and they left with even more momentum. They came out on top against the Cottonwood Colts by a score of 58-51. This was a revenge game for the Spartans: when they faced off against the Colts back in December of 2024, they had to take a 56-55 loss.

Murray's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Kaiden Nelson led the charge by going 5 for 11 on his way to 15 points along with six steals and five assists. The dominant performance gave Nelson a new career-high in steals. Another player making a difference was Ethan Davies, who almost dropped a double-double on nine points and nine boards.

Murray smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 15 offensive rebounds. That's the most offensive boards they've managed all season.

Despite the defeat, Cottonwood had strong showings from Luka Cecez, who went 7 of 8 en route to 18 points and six rebounds, and Tengis Bayasgalan, who went 5 for 8 on his way to 13 points. Cecez has been hot for a while, having also posted two or more blocks the last ten times he's played. Malei Atem was another key player, putting up four points in addition to five boards and three blocks.

Murray pushed their record up to 12-8 with the win, which was their seventh straight at home. A key ingredient in that success has been their performance when it comes to three-point shooting accuracy: their three-point shooting accuracy was 33% in those games and 26.8% outside of them. As for Cottonwood, the loss snapped their winning streak at five games and leaves them with a 14-7 record.

Murray wasted no time getting back out on the court and has already played their next matchup, a 72-58 victory against Stansbury on the 30th. As for Cottonwood, they also didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next game, an 83-54 win against Tooele on the 31st.