SCOTTSDALE — Scottsdale Preparatory Academy took on Arizona Lutheran Academy on their own court on Wednesday night, but fell 66-56.

Early in the first half, the Spartans (1-2) were going neck-and-neck on the scoreboard with the Coyotes, and went into halftime trailing by only three points with the score being 23-20.

Spartan pointguard Tommy Whitley stayed on the court for the majority of the game, and was able to put up some points of his own. 

“We went in thinking we would win, it was a tough loss.” Whitley said, “We have a lot of potential. All three of our games we put up really good fights, overall our team chemistry is really good…  We have a really promising group of guys and I think we will have a really good rest of the season.”

The Spartans’ offense took advantage of the pace of the game, but was still unable to gain a solid lead on the Coyotes.

The Coyotes left Scottsdale with their second win of the season, after they defeated Valley Lutheran on the road last Tuesday by 21 points. 

Early in the fourth quarter, the Spartans made it clear that they were not ending the game without a fight. Despite the Coyotes being up by close to 10 points, the two teams rallied back and forth for the entirety of the eight minutes. 

The pace of the game sped up when Whitley was able to break away on multiple occasions to drive for some clean layups, keeping the score balanced as the clock wound down.

“I thought we could be successful tonight but I did not think the game would go like it went…” Arizona Lutheran head coach Doug Meyer said, “It was just a little bit different tempo than I had expected…  I guess my thought was as long as we kept playing smart we were going to be okay and we did that most of the time.”

Scottsdale Prep was coming straight off of another loss by nearly 40 points by Trivium Preparatory just the previous night.

“I know we are just growing even tighter and tighter as a team together and as a unit so I think we will keep just getting better and better.” Scottsdale’s other point guard Ben Bogosian said, “I think we are really fundamental, I think at first we struggled with it…  Games likes this at the end of the year will be a whole lot different.”
The Spartans scored 23 points in the final quarter of the game.

But a close loss does not stop them from looking forward. 

Senior power forward Jake Nagel said, “We are pretty good. I think we are a good team and if we find out how to work together, then we can be pretty good.”