For the Murray boys' basketball team, games against Jordan and East were not only the first of the 2009-2010 season, but opportunities to get their game back on track. Last year's season-ending loss to top-ranked Provo in the first round of the 4A state tournament was a sour finish to an otherwise successful season. Now, the Spartans are looking for a fresh start in a new classification, 5A.

The first item on the agenda? Filling in the offensive holes.

The Spartans lost all three of their leading scorers -- Markus Duran, John Hunt and Ken Masic -- when they graduated. Current junior center David Collette was the Spartans' fourth-leading scorer and, during the offseason, he developed his scoring muscle to complement returning forward and leading rebounder Wyatt Woodard. Senior Mitch Tate is expected to round out Murray's work-in-progress offense.

"We don't have a lot of proven scorers but those are three guys who we'll count on to score some points," said coach Jason Workman. "It's a little bit of an unknown."

But the Spartans have taken steps to eliminate some of that uncertainty.

During the summer and fall months, the Spartans met three times a week to run on the track, work on their shots and lift in the weight room with the expectation that their competition was doing the same.

"We've been going at it as hard as we can," Tate said. "Our first goal is to lock down that region title."

And they have last year's late-season rally as a foundation.

The Spartans finished last season on a four-game win streak. However, they weren't able to climb out of the hole created by earlier losses to Olympus, West Highland and Cottonwood and, as a result, took the fourth and final seed out of Region 6 -- and a first round matchup against then-defending state champion Provo, then riding a 40-game win streak.

But Murray didn't play like an underdog. Through three quarters, the run-and-gun Spartans held Provo to a narrow six-point lead, though the Bulldogs used a string of free-throws to stretch that lead to 16 by game's end.

"We were able to make a run late in the year to pull out a winning season," Workman said. "We got a bad seed and that was our fault. They were just too big."

Now, the Spartans have some size of their own. No doubt, they'll need it as they face bigger, taller competition in their first year in Class 5A.

But Tate is convinced the Spartans are ready for the challenge.

"We are confident that we can play with the bigger schools. We're excited to play with the Davises and Lone Peaks." Tate said. "That's what pushed us so hard in the offseason. We think we have the potential and talent level to make some noise and accomplish some things that previous teams haven't been able to."

Given the altered landscape in Class 5A this season, the Spartans figure this year may be one of their best shots to make a statement. Other new additions to Murray's new place in 5A's Region 2 are Skyline and Hunter. Many other 5A teams, including defending champion West Jordan and Lone Peak, are loaded with underclassmen.

"There is usually a bit more certainty coming into the season," Workman said. "We feel pretty good about our team and our chances. It's going to be a fun year."