Slow start too much for Grizzlies to overcome in 64-53 loss to Morgan

<strong>LOGAN—</strong> The Logan Grizzlies battled from behind almost the entire game against a tough Morgan team in a, 64-53, loss Tuesday. Tyler Brimhall led the Grizzlies with 17 points, while Jordan Larsen added 14. Morgan’s Jake Miles led all scorers with 19.

Morgan (13-2) surprised Logan early and jumped out to a quick 10-1 lead. After the slow start, the Grizzlies found themselves trailing the Trojans 16-6 at the end of the first quarter.

“The hard part is when you’re playing a good team like them, it’s hard to come back from that,” Grizzlies head coach Logan Brown said.

After the break, Logan pressured Morgan into turnovers and bad shots which sparked the Grizzlies offense. Logan turned the tide in the second quarter, starting the period on a 12-2 run to tie the game at 18. Morgan found its bearings, however, and regained a 29-25 advantage by the half.

“Morgan is a really good team,” Brown said. “They came out with more energy in the first quarter. That challenged us a little bit and we had to bounce back. I think that we did a good job in the second quarter.”

Logan stayed right with Morgan most of the night, thanks to Brimhall and Larsen pacing the Grizzlies on both ends of the floor.

“Tyler and Jordan did some good things tonight. I thought they scored well,” Brown said. “I was more impressed with the way Larsen defended. He held Jake Miles to only three field goals all night long and that kid is leading the state in scoring. I feel like he did a pretty good job on him, but I feel like we’ve still got to be better.”

Things stayed close until the final minute when Morgan pulled ahead thanks to Miles’ free throw shooting down the stretch. Overall, Morgan shot a whopping 36 times from the stripe, making 27 of those attempts.

“I feel like we fouled too much tonight and we let them beat us at the line,” Brown said. “That’s not good when you are playing really good teams that won’t miss free throws.”

Foul trouble affected Logan early, especially senior Luke Falk who fouled out of the game with just less than six minutes left.

“We’ve got to keep Luke in the game. He is very important to this team,” Brown said. “He’s a very good kid. Kids have off nights, we understand that, but he is a solid kid and solid player. We need him in games no doubt. It hurt having him sit most of the game tonight.”

After dropping two games in a row, Logan faces another tough challenge as they play host to valley rival Sky View (11-2, 1-0) Friday at 7 p.m.

“That’s a tough game to bounce back on. Sky View is one of the top teams in 4A and one of the top teams in our region,” Brown said. “I guarantee our guys will be prepared, they’ll be ready, and they’ll have to be. Sky View is one heck of a team. They’ve got some great talent. They are doing some really good things right now. We’re going to have to have our best game to beat those guys.”

<em><strong>@heywood_kyle</strong></em>

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