The Exira-EHK Spartans went into Friday night with back-to-back losses at home. Falling to 4-2 the Spartans were eager to get back onto the court and get a big conference win. The Spartans were ready to go from the opening tip as they won the tip and scored followed by a steal for a layup and held a 4-0 lead less than 15 seconds into the game. The Spartans looked to try and use their height advantage and dominate the paint and that is exactly what happened. In the opening eight minutes the Spartans shot 11-14 from the floor including 18 points inside the paint to give them a 20-point lead after the first quarter. The Spartans rode the hot offensive night from three seniors in Jackson Radcliff, Cash Emgarten, and Aiden Flathers who all scored in double figures and Radcliff led the way with 22 points. After the two previous losses head coach of the Spartans Tony Santistaben said it was good just to see the kids get back to their winning ways.

The Spartans did a great job all night long of making the extra pass to teammates to get the best shot possible on the offensive end of the floor. The Spartans would have 15 assists as a team and just made them really hard to contain. Coach Santistaben says it has been a priority of him and his assistant coach to teach the kids to read the defense and to take what they give them.

Early in the second the half with a 25-point lead Coach Santistaben took a timeout in the third quarter because he didn’t like the energy of his team and felt they were just playing the score, but Coach Santistaben he wants to his team to always bring their own energy even if the crowd isn’t a factor in the game.

The Spartans end their two-game losing skid and improve to 5-2 on the season and 5-1 in Rolling Valley Conference play.