Panthers bury Miners

After undergoing several tough losses this season, the Saratoga Panthers snapped back with fierce competition Saturday to beat Hanna-Elk Mountain-Medicine Bow 65-44.

The Panthers now sit at 9-7 (non-conference) and 0-4 (conference) in their 2013-14 season record. Saratoga's most recent conference game was Friday, in which the boys suffered a close 53-57 loss to Southeast.

Saratoga head coach Josh Sandlian said he knew the Miners were a good team, and was surprised to beat them by 21 points. HEM had also played Encampment Friday, but lost 43-61.

"They played Encampment last night and gave them a good run, so we were glad to get a win out of them," Sandlian said. "We knew they were going to come in and battle us and give us a run, so we had to execute and do everything we had been working on at practice. We know that when we take care of the ball and reverse the ball we can score, and we put ourselves in a position to score."

Saturday's game saw Saratoga stay far enough ahead during the first half, but really turn it on in the third quarter, which ended with the Panthers in a 16-point lead. John Brennan snagged 20 points in the entire game for the Panthers, while Braxton Schwartzkopf followed closely behind with 16.

Other scoring Panthers included Ben Falk (8), Cameron Collamer (6), Ryan Malone (5), Seth Harrison (3), Jace Berger (3), Andrew Janecek-Oiler (2) and Emmanuel Pattishall-Baker (2). Brennan said it was nice to get another win for the team record, after experiencing several season losses.

"We've had our problems lately and have been on a pretty tough losing streak, so for us to come out and get a win is what we need to get us back on track," he said. "We weren't playing ourselves lately, and tonight showed the team ball and transition play that we can play. It was nice to get back to that."

Brennan said the Panthers usually play HEM three times a year, and have a good idea of what to expect from every game. Saratoga already beat the Miners 56-34 in December, and will play them again near the end of February.

"We play them once in the Carbon County Classic, once at home and once away, so we know what they're coming at us with," Brennan said. "We played them already once this year, and it was pretty much the same outcome."

For the Miners, the 6'6" Quade Palm scored the most points at 14. Following were Jake Sutter and Trevor Rice with six each, Wyatt Phillips with five and Jason Nowak, Christian Gonzalez and Celsey Meyer with four each.

Sandlian said Palm was one to watch out for because of his towering, nearly-seven-foot frame.

"Quade Palm is a great kid and he put up some points, and there's not a whole lot we can do when we're only six-foot," he said. "We do what we can and try to front him, and that seems to work. He's a great kid, and if they can get him the ball and he can put it in the hoop, they're going to be successful."

The junior varsity Miners managed a 40-29 win over the Panthers Saturday.

The Panthers next play Encampment's Homecoming game, starting at 4 p.m., Friday at Encampment, while Saturday features a 4 p.m. Panther face-off at home against Big Piney. The Miners play Little Snake River at Baggs, starting at 3 p.m. Friday.

In preparation for the Homecoming game, Brennan said he and his fellow Panthers must focus on their strengths and areas to improve upon, rather than what the opposing team can do.

"We're more worried about what we need to do ourselves," he said. "We don't necessarily focus on other teams. We know what we've got to do as a team, and we've got to continue it every weekend. Lately we've gotten away from that, but tonight we showed what we needed to do to put it together."