Panthers are the team to beat

The Carbon County Classic tournament featured seven teams, three from Carbon County School District No 2 (CCSD2) and saw the Saratoga High School Panthers go undefeated.

The Burlington Huskies impressed people attending the games as they handled their opponents. The Dubois Rams, a team which went to the State Championship last year, gave the Carbon County teams tough games, although they lost to both Encampment and Saratoga.

The Rams met the Panthers on December 9 in Saratoga.  

Head Coach Jason Williams said although Saratoga led throughout most of the game, the Rams were always in contention to pull off a win.

“Dubois is another great team that we knew was going to be a challenge to get a win,” Williams said. “They were runners up in the State Championship last year. They did lose a few key players since then, but they have plenty who are good and the new ones need just a little time to jell. They are going to be a force.”

Williams said even when the Panthers would have a run and get a comfortable lead, the Dubois team would hit a scoring spree.

“It was one of those games that was not over until it was over,” Williams said. “For an opening game, we had to play until the final minute. That was really good for us. Beating them gave us confidence for the games to come.”

The final score in the Dubois game was 58 to 54.

The next game on Friday was against the Midwest Oilers.

The Panthers took control of the game immediately and did not look back. They beat the Oilers handily with a score of 60 to 27.

The Burlington Huskies, the team the Panthers played on Saturday, were not so easy.

“Burlington is a good team. They are tall, athletic and fast,” Williams said. “We knew going into the game, they had a good fall season with sports and we knew they are one of the top teams in the state. It was pretty nice to be able to compete with them and even better to come out with a win.”

The outcome was far from assured given the Panthers were down at half-time by 4 points.

“This group of boys on the Panther team expect to win. They have that mindset and confidence they can pull it off,” Williams said. “Fisher Williams came out and hit some big shots for us. He sort of had his coming out party this weekend.”

Williams also had praise for twins Grady and Grant Bartlett.

“They do their thing whether they are scoring points or not,” Williams said. “They take control of the game by dictating the defensive and offensive intensity. Sometimes that doesn’t always show up in the stat lines, but those are two kids we feel we have to have on the floor as much as we possibly can. They bring an energy that can’t always be measured by stats, but you can definitely see it.”

Williams said when in the locker room at half-time he told the team it was basically a tie game and there were some things they needed to clean up and if the team did, he believed they would come out with a win.

“I told them we could play with these guys and not to back down at all,” Williams recounted. “We took away some of their easy looks they had in the first half and started chipping away. It was a 1 point game at the end of the 3rd quarter and then at the end of the 4th quarter we were ahead and they had to start fouling and we were able to knock down some free throws. That gave us  a little breathing room, although it was a nailbiter.”

 Williams said he realizes there is going to be a target on their back by having this successful weekend.

“A season may not be going well for a team and they take solace in a quality win in beating a team like us or Burlington this season,” Williams said. “I know there are teams going to be gunning for us harder than they might other teams.”

Williams said it is a good place to be as the team all teams want to beat, but it is also difficult.

“We have to always be at our best, because quite likely all the other teams are going to be at their best. We are not flying under anybody’s radar,” Williams said. “That is why at practice we always have to get a little bit better. It is so important to have this mindset when going into practice.”

The Panthers will face Shoshoni away, also 3-0, on December 15 and then Dubois and Riverside on December 16.