The Utes hosted the Spanish Fork Dons on January 26 in a game featuring high-pressure defense by the Dons resulting in 35 Uintah free-throw attempts on the night, 22 of which came in the 4th quarter. Uintah made 26 free-throws overall to preserve a 67-62 victory.

Uintah’s Josh Ewell served notice early that he deserved special defensive attention as he made his first two 3-point attempts in the opening two minutes of the game. Spanish Fork scored on their first three possessions to take an early lead until Collin Boren made two free-throws at the 5:15 mark of the quarter to contribute to a Uintah lead at 10-9.

Boren earned the free-throws after an offensive rebound and attempted put-back in the key. The last four minutes of the 1st quarter featured a frenetic pace resulting in more turnovers than baskets as both teams struggled with their offensive effectiveness. The 1st ended with the Dons holding a 14-15 lead.

Uintah’s Allen Abplanalp scored the only points for the Utes over about six minutes of game time spanning the 1st and 2nd quarters as he made two free-throws and scored a layup after an offensive rebound to try to keep the Utes in the game. Spanish Fork built their biggest lead of the game with the score 16-24 at the 4:45 mark of the 2nd quarter.

Uintah’s offense came to life at that critical point in the game as the Utes scored ten points in less than two minutes. Gavin Bullock scored on a layup, a mid-range jump shot and a 3-point shot. Clint Baker added a 3-point shot to help the Utes close within two points of the Dons at 26-28. Uintah’s Kalin Leyba was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made two of three free-throws to tie the game at 28 to end the 2nd quarter. The Utes’ defense played a key role in limiting Spanish Fork to two points over the final 4:20 of the quarter.

The 3rd quarter began with Bullock continuing his offensive effectiveness as he scored a jump shot assisted by Ewell to open the quarter. Bullock then sank a 3-point basket on the heels of a steal by Rex Bunderson at the 6:00 mark to give the Utes the lead at 33-32. This was Uintah’s first lead since the 10-9 advantage referenced earlier. The Utes seemed to value the lead as they did not relinquish it for the remainder of the game.

Boren continued his effectiveness in getting to the basket and the foul line with a quick baseline move which earned him two free-throws, making one. A Bullock jump shot off a baseline inbounds play coupled with a smooth, driving left-handed layup by Boren put the Utes up 38-33 at the 3:30 mark of the 3rd.

Spanish Fork responded with their second of seven 3-pointers on the night to pull within two at 38-36. A Dons’ player then stole the ball and was racing to tie the game with a layup when the trailing referee called an offensive foul on a Spanish Fork player who should have known better than to initiate contact that didn’t effect his teammate’s opportunity to score. Baskets by Bullock, Abplanalp and two more free-throws by Boren earned after an offensive rebound built the Uintah lead to 45-36 as the 3rd quarter ended.

The 4th quarter started with the foul count 2-9 in favor of the Utes as the consistently aggressive Dons’ defense continued to pile up the fouls. Abplanalp started the 4th quarter scoring for the Utes on a basket assisted by Boren.

Baker was fouled on a drive to the basket at the 6:10 mark by the Dons’ Ren Williamsen who took exception to the call and was quickly assessed a technical foul. Bullock made the two free-throws awarded for the technical foul but the Utes did not cash in the free throws on the original foul nor the ensuing technical possession. The Ute lead of 49-38 was reduced to 49-41 after a Dons’ 3-pointer. Ewell responded with a successful drive to the basket, making the second of only three Uintah field goals for the quarter at the 5:20 mark.

The Utes converted 15 of 18 free-throws over the last five minutes of the game, including Bullock’s 8 for 8, to keep the Dons at arm’s length. All of those made free-throws were important as Spanish Fork made five 3-pointers in the quarter as they battled to close the Uintah lead which maxed out at 12 points with just over two minutes remaining with the score 57-45. The Don’s made three of their five 3-pointers in the 4th quarter with less than one minute of time remaining.

Bullock led all scorers for the game with 26 points to tie his career high. Boren contributed 15 points followed by Ewell’s 12, Abplanalp’s career high-tying 9, Baker’s 3 and Leyba’s 2.

The Utes hosted the Payson Lions on January 29th in a rematch of the Utes’ first Region loss. Uintah played better to start this game than they played in Payson but suffered their second defeat to Payson this year with a tough 50-55 overtime loss.

The Utes were able to build an 11-point lead in the first quarter on 3-point baskets by Josh Ewell and Clint Baker. Free-throws by Collin Boren and Gavin Bullock, as well as three free-throws by Ewell earned after being fouled on a 3-point attempt, led to the Utes shooting seven for seven from the line in the first quarter and contributed to an overall 18 for 21 free-throw performance for the game. The Utes led 17-8 after the 1st quarter.

The Utes and Lions each managed nine points in the 2nd quarter. The big basket for Uintah in the quarter came from Ewell on a 3-point basket with two minutes left in the half. Ewell’s basket was one of only two Uintah field goals in the quarter.

Bullock scored on a nice baseline pull-up jump shot on the next Utes possession after a Bunderson rebound to build the Utes lead back to 10 points at 24-14. Bunderson finished the Utes scoring with two free-throws, which, combined with Kalen Williams’ free-throws to start the quarter, kept the Utes 11 for 11 from the line at half.

Payson held the ball for almost a minute at the end of the 2nd quarter, perhaps because one of their key players, Braden Wright, was sitting on the bench with his second foul. Payson showed good discipline and made a 3-point basket to end the 2nd quarter and trim the Uintah lead to nine at 26-17 to end the half.

Boren and Bullock scored all of Uintah’s 12 points in the 3rd quarter as Boren hit a 3-pointer and Bullock made another baseline jump shot to contribute to an eight-point Uintah lead with less than a minute left in the 3rd quarter. Payson responded with another late 3-pointer as the last basket of the quarter to trim the Uintah lead to 38-33 to end the 3rd quarter.

Boren increased the Utes’ lead to 40-33 with two-free throws to start the 4th quarter. Payson responded with yet another timely 3-pointer to begin a run of nine straight points to take the lead 40-42, Payson’s first lead since leading 0-2 in the opening minutes of the game. Boren came up with a steal and layup to tie the game at 42 with just over four minutes left in the 4th quarter. Both teams played tenacious defense to close out the quarter by allowing only two points each. The Lions took the lead, 42-44, on free-throws at the 3:18 mark.

Uintah’s only other points came on a basket by Allen Abplanalp with about 90 seconds remaining as he out-muscled the Lions for an offensive rebound and a quick put-back to tie the score at 44. Both teams missed opportunities to score again and the 4th ended 44-44.

The Lions hustled for the opening possession of the overtime period and worked the ball inside for a basket. Bullock made another baseline jump shot as the Payson defense worked hard to keep him from driving to the hoop. Bullock displayed good recognition throughout the game in taking what the defense left available and making 10 foot baseline jump shots.

Payson’s Wright scored on the ensuing possession on a drive to the basket and Boren responded by making two free-throws after his own drive to the basket, tying the score at 48 with 2:45 remaining in the game. Payson responded with another patient possession resulting in a made 3-point shot with two minutes remaining.

Payson built the lead to 48-53 on made free-throws with less than a minute remaining and Bunderson was the last Ute to score with a driving basket with 20 seconds left to close the gap to 50-53. Payson finished the scoring by making single free throws on their last two possessions as the Utes were forced to foul to regain possession of the ball.

Uintah was not able to score again and the game ended 50-55. Boren was the Utes’ high scorer with 17 points, followed by Bullock’s 13, Ewell’s 9, Bunderson’s 4, Baker’s 3 and Abplanalp’s and Williams’ 2 each.

The Utes only game this week is a critical road game at Salem Hill on February 2nd. A win this week will keep the Utes in no worse than second place in Region 8 play, which continues to play out to be a very tightly-contested region.