Panthers Play the Classics

The sharp punctuation of dribbling and the squeak of sneakers heralded the return of high school basketball to the Platte Valley on December 13 and 14 as Saratoga co-hosted the Carbon County Classic.

With a young team under his wing, Head Coach Jason Williams led the Saratoga Panthers to their first four wins off the season. The Panthers won with substantial leads in three of their four games.  Saratoga dealt double-digit losses to the Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) Miners, the Dubois Rams and the St. Stephens Eagles over the weekend.

Their toughest game, however, was on Friday afternoon against the Burlington Huskies where the Panthers came from behind to win by just 8 points.

“Every season is a new team and the goal of the preseason is to see how the new team is going to gel, and what roles individuals are going to have. I felt like we took some positive steps in figuring out this season’s team this past weekend. Not only our strengths but also some areas we need to work on,” said Head Coach Jason Williams. “Each team we faced brought something different to the game and made us better: HEM is very athletic and very quick; Burlington is a big, physical team; Dubois has one of the better players in the state we had to defend; and St. Stephens is a dangerous team that can score in bunches. We are glad we got to play them all and we are fortunate to have gotten out with four wins as well.”

Saratoga vs. HEM

Saratoga’s boys dominated their home court early in the game against the Miners, putting 6 points up on the board early in the first quarter and keeping HEM scoreless. In fact, the Miners wouldn’t score until a foul put them at the free throw line where No. 11 went 2-2.

Leading, 6-2, a foul on Newt Williams put Saratoga at the free throw line where he went 1-2 and put Saratoga up 7-2 over HEM. The Miners made a basket to close the gap 7-4 before a 3-pointer pushed them to 10-4. From there, the Panthers continued raining baskets as they put up a total of 20 points on the board in the first quarter and keeping HEM to just 8 points.

As warmed up as Saratoga seemed to be, the Miners were almost just as cold as they made unforced errors which were taken advantage of by the Panthers. HEM appeared to be having trouble with offensive rebounds and struggled at the free throw line. The Miners made their first point with 5:16 left in the second quarter from a free throw. Saratoga, meanwhile, had put up another 6 points.

While HEM appeared to begin warming up in the second quarter, it wasn’t enough to keep up with the Panthers. The Miners put up another 9 points before halftime while Saratoga put up 16 points. Closing out the first half of the game, the Panthers led 36-17 over HEM.

Saratoga continued scoring in the double digits in the third quarter, putting up 12 points within four minutes compared to the Miners’ 4 points. While the pace of both teams picked up, HEM still struggled to close the gap between them and the Panthers. Saratoga’s boys put up a total of 19 points in the third quarter compared to the Miners’ 8 points. Though neither team had any quit in them, the Panthers appeared to have the advantage in both height and power.

During the final quarter, the match finally became a game between two teams with HEM giving the Panthers some resistance. Both teams battled at center court through turnovers and at the basket through rebounds and blocks. The Miners, it seemed, had hit their stride as they put up 13 points in the fourth quarter while Saratoga scored 8 points.

Unfortunately for HEM, that push came too late in the game to overtake the lead established by the Panthers. The final score was 63-38, Saratoga.

Hazen Williams led the team in scoring with 12 points and 6 rebounds, followed by Burris Berger with 11 points and 5 rebounds. Jace Westring scored 10 points and had 3 assists and 3 steals, Hunter Johnston scored 10 points and had 4 rebounds. Griffin Bartlett contributed to the defense with 7 steals.

Saratoga vs. Burlington

The most difficult game for the Panthers all weekend came on Friday afternoon as they faced the Burlington Huskies. It didn’t take long for the Huskies to outscore Saratoga in the first quarter as they put up 16 points to the Panthers’ 8 points in the first five minutes.

With three minutes remaining in the quarter, Saratoga found their footing and was able to close the gap to within three points, 15-18, before the second quarter.

The second quarter was the most decisive for the Panthers as they tied twice. Saratoga was able to get traction on the court as Hunter Johnston broke the final tie with a 3-pointer. With just 26 seconds left in the half, the Huskies put up another basket to trail Saratoga 29-28

As both teams returned to the hardwood, it seemed as if the game might be decided by just a single point. Instead, Saratoga dug deep and began racking up points, just barely keeping ahead of the Huskies. As the third quarter came to an end, it looked as if the Panthers had secured a double digit lead. A basket and a shot from the free throw line from Burlington brought the score to within 7 points, 49-42.

In the final quarter, Saratoga and the Huskies continued trading baskets. With 4:19 remaining in the game, Burlington tied the score 49-49. H. Williams broke the tie at 3:55 from the free throw line, followed by a basket from Jace Westring to put the Panthers ahead 52-49. H. Williams sank a 3-pointer with 13 seconds left to put the score at 55-49. Then, from the free throw line, H. Williams went 2-2 for a final score of 57-49, Saratoga.

H. Williams, again, led the team with 26 points. Bartlett scored 9 points and had 5 rebounds and 5 steals while Johnston scored 9 points.

Saratoga vs. Dubois

On Saturday, the Panthers repeated the results of their first game against HEM when they faced the Dubois Rams. Saratoga sent the Rams packing with a 27-point deficit, 62-35. This was the same margin, in fact, by which the Encampment Tigers had defeated Dubois.

H. Williams scored 16 points against the Rams, followed by Berger with 13 points and 9 rebounds. Bartlett scored 9 points against Dubois while Newt Williams had 9 rebounds.

Saratoga vs. St. Stephens

Against the St. Stephens Eagles, the Panthers again had a double-digit lead to end the game with a final score of 63-29. This 34 point margin loss was larger than what the Eagles had been dealt by the Tigers the day before, with a 16-point loss.

Max Jones led against the Eagles with 13 points and 14 rebounds. Westring scored 12 points, Berger scored 9 points and had 6 rebounds. Johnston scored 8 points and H. Williams had 8 rebounds.

Following this weekend, the Saratoga Panthers are tied with the Encampment Tigers for the No. 1 spot in the 1A Southwest Conference as both teams now boast a 4-0 record to start the season.

The Panthers will get one more preseason tournament in at the Wrangler Invite in Shoshoni December 19 and 20 before the holiday break. When they return, they will play a junior varsity game against HEM at 5 p.m. in Hanna on January 7.