Shot at four straight for Morgan boys hoops falls short, but finish week with a W

They say good things come in threes. 

For the Morgan boys basketball team, four would’ve been dandy. But the Trojans opened their Region 13 campaign by falling to Ogden by the final score of 74-65, Jan. 10. 

Morgan [6-8, Region 13 1-1] knocked down several threes to start the game but trailed 16-17 after one quarter of action. 

A back-and-forth tussle ensued from end to end in the second quarter, as the Trojans and Ogden battled to a 25-25 standstill with 3:25 to play in the first half. 

Liberal substitutions and a breakneck pace contributed to a physical game on both ends of the floor. The Trojans fought hard to crack the deficit for most of the second quarter thanks to several step-back threes from Kolton Asay. 

Several other turnovers in the backcourt led to open layups on the other end for Ogden though. An and-one further seemed to disrupt any rhythm Asay was trying to create for Morgan, who trailed by seven, 32-39 at the break. 

In the third quarter of this region opener for both teams, Morgan continued to ride the hot hand of Asay, who splashed his fifth and sixth threes of the game. The Trojans trailed at the end of three, 52-59. 

A three-point play by Nik Preece cut the Trojans’ deficit to six at 59-65 midway through the fourth quarter. 

But, three missed shots at the free throw line and three no-calls on several floaters that appeared to be fouls on Ogden in the final three minutes turned out to be the difference between making it four wins out of four for Morgan. 

Asay led all Trojans with 27 points, while Saunders dropped 21. Saunders also had five assists, three rebounds and two steals. Nik Preece had eight points for Morgan, while Mason Williams was a force on both ends of the floor, contributing five points, eight rebounds and two blocks. Ben Russell had two points, four rebounds and two steals. 

Two nights later at Grantsville, the Trojans would earn their first win in Region 13 play and perhaps begin another winning streak. 

Morgan led 18-9 at the end of one and upped the lead to 35-21 at the half in a 67-48 win where the Trojans got back to raining threes as a team. They also shot 16-for-17 from the line and got 22 points from Jake Hansen, 16 from Saunders and 11 from Asay to round out the week. λ