Panthers stay perfect at 4-0
By JARED PUTNAM

Towns County primarily kept the ball at the top of the key, passing back and forth to run down the clock.

The Panthers improved their record to 4-0 over the weekend, remaining unbeaten with wins over the Murphy Bulldogs and Towns County Indians.

"We did not play well either game," said Head Coach Tim Hunter. "Fortunately in both games we played well enough to win."

Union 52 - Murphy 45

The Panthers built a lead early, and had staked a 14-4 advantage by the end of the first quarter, but Murphy tied the game 16-16 with 3:08 left in the second period. Union held a two point lead, 25-23 at the half.

"We got in a lot of foul trouble," said Coach Hunter. "Murphy has a post player that is a quality player and they came out playing hard."

Although the Bulldogs took the lead at the end of the third quarter, the Panthers reclaimed the lead and held on for a 52-45 win. Corey Garrett led the team with 17 points, followed by Austin Collins with 9.

"We just didn't play with the intensity we needed to at all. That, along with lots of early foul trouble just made it tough," said the coach. "Some of that is from sloppy defense, and the referees were calling really tight, and sometimes you just have an off night."

Austin Collins fires off the three-pointer against the Bulldogs.

Coach Hunter said that a lot of the fouls were offensive fouls. "That's one of the things that the Georgia High School Association has the referees cracking down on. They're trying to really clean the game up and not have as much contact," said the coach.

Union 41 - Towns 24

In what was a very slow-paced game, the Panthers defeated the rival Towns County Indians after pulling away late in the fourth quarter.

"That was a tough game for us because we had played poorly in the Murphy game and I had really [gotten on our boys] as a result," said Coach Hunter. "That was a terrible game to have to play right after that."

Union led 11-7 after the first quarter, but had difficulty extending the lead due to stall tactics. "We came out playing pretty hard at the beginning but Towns came out and stalled," said Coach Hunter. "At the end of the game we [still had] a lead and Towns was continuing to stall, so they really were not playing to win at that point, so we just quit chasing them. The only way they were going to score is if we fouled them."

Michael Ross earns a trip to the foul line after getting tangled up with a pair of Indians on the layup.

The coach said that once there was a comfortable enough lead there was no reason to chase them any- more and they were forced to come out and play.

Coach Hunter said that even though Towns is a rival, those games are not a big focus for the Panthers.

"I'm not saying that all games are not important, but our main focus is on our region games, and that's where it has to be," said

Coach Hunter. "You still don't want to take rivalries for granted and you want to prepare and go hard for them, but the true focus of this team our whole season is our region games. All of them matter, but the region wins matter a little more." Both Corey Garrett and Michael Ross were in double figures in scoring for Union County.

Caleb Kelley draws a hard foul from two Indians players.