Seven Lakes has beaten teams with offense this year.

The Spartans have been a high flying team, averaging over 70 points and outscoring opponents with a fast paced team that loves to get up and down the court.

But when the time came, the Spartans knew they would need to lock down on defense and knew that they would have to put together a whole game on that end of the floor.

That time came on Friday and the Spartans were up to the challenge, using a swarming defense against Jordan that slowed down an explosive team and helped Seven Lakes to a 50-44 win to stay unbeaten in District 19-6A play.

“It was a fantastic defensive performance,” said Seven Lakes head coach Shannon Heston. “One of the things we really praised these guys about was their effort defensively and the second and third efforts we had, because Jordan had a great gameplan. It’s always important to be able to win with different styles and we showed we could do that tonight against a very high quality opponent. We’re excited about that type of defense, because that’s something that can travel.”

It was a defensive battle all game between the two teams, with neither ever being able to gain much of an edge. The Spartans led 13-11 after the first quarter and 29-20 at halftime. They were helped in large part by a big performance from a role player, as Hagen Knight scored all nine of his points in the first half, while Brett Norton also made an impact, scoring seven of his nine points in the first half.

“Hagen is a guy who’s been stuck in a bit of a shooting slump, but he’s a tremendous shooter so we told him to keep shooting with confidence,” Heston said. “It was awesome to see him hit a couple threes and hit an and-one as well. He played strong defense and really gave us a spark in that first half.”

It became even more of a defensive game in the second half. Both teams locked in on that side and went back and forth all through the second half. Seven Lakes led by only two points after the third quarter and Jordan tied things midway through the fourth quarter before Seven Lakes got a couple of key buckets to regain the lead and create space which they then held on to the rest of the way.

“We just did whatever we needed to win down the stretch,” said senior guard AJ Bates. “We didn’t have a great scoring night tonight, but for all of us we just do whatever it takes to win, whether that be, scoring, making assists, rebounding of defense we just find ways to do that and that’s how we got things done down the stretch. All of our mindsets were to get the win any way we could.”

The Spartans improved to 17-2 on the year and 4-0 in district play with the win. Seven Lakes will hope to build on that when they go into the Christmas break, but they know the job isn’t done yet.

“These guys just are never satisfied and that’s what I’m most proud of,” Heston said. “They go and look at film on their own, when we walked in at halftime, the players are already talking about things that we were going to point out, when after the game when we come in, the players are already talking about how to fix certain things. The leadership on this team and the comradery, it makes these guys special and it gives these guys a chance to do something that no team has done before at this school.”