Stars Home Opener

By Spencer Wixom

Tonight’s home opener for the Salt Lake City Stars may have ended in a 80-91 loss to the Northern Arizona Suns and former Jazz member Elijah Millsap, but all 1,015 fans left with smiles.  Bear was here to interact with the fans, there was never ending hand outs, great halftime entertainment, and players signed autographs after the game.

We’ve got a game on our hands! pic.twitter.com/HArnDyEzuz

— Salt Lake City Stars (@slcstars) November 19, 2016

The game started better than the first two as the Stars got out to and early lead which they held until the 7:22 mark in the third quarter.  The Suns went to some small ball lineups that gave the Stars troubles and caused them to turnover the ball 11 times from that mark until the end of the game.  Askia Booker led the Suns in scoring with 21 points on 8-15 shooting.  Former Milwaukee Bucks, Johnny O’Bryant, also caused issues for the Stars dropping 20 points and adding seven rebounds.  The Stars had a hard time guarding him as Henry Sims couldn’t keep up with him and Da’Shonte Riley got into foul trouble.

Marcus Paige is still adjusting to the role of full time point guard for the Stars, as he spent a majority of his minutes in training camp playing the two-guard next to Tyrone Wallace.  Though Paige made strides from his first game, the inexperience in this new role at the professional level showed tonight.  Paige scored 18 points on 6-14 shooting, which was an improvement over his nine point debut.  The young guard also added five rebounds, which is a strong number that is a positive sign for someone who is 6’0″.  What was discouraging was the 0 assists to 9 turnovers, and six of those turnovers came after the Suns tied the game up in the third quarter.  Point guards are prone to turnovers early in their careers, but Paige needs to find a way to facilitate for this roster if he wants to succeed.

The Stars next game is at home on November 21st vs the Oklahoma City Blue and Reggie Williams.

Play of The Game

Taylor to Riley for the Jam! Stars up 19-14 with 1:29 left in the 1st qtr pic.twitter.com/98m5w5aJ8a

— Salt Lake City Stars (@slcstars) November 19, 2016

Game MVP

Jermaine Taylor

20 Points, 3 Rebounds, 1 Assist, 9-13 FG, 2-4 3P

Taylor was in many ways the only efficient offensive player for the Stars tonight.  He came of the the bench and led the team in points and in field goal percentage.  After taking the previous year off to get healthy and get on a new diet, Taylor hopes that this is the start of new things.