Union County’s Mason Miller is guarded by Hagerstown’s Cody Swimm.
LIBERTY, Ind. – Union County’s boys basketball team earned a Tri-Eastern Conference victory on Friday night as the Patriots defeated Hagerstown 51-48.
“We had the lead last, but you play another five minutes and maybe it’s them,” Union County Head Coach Jesse Moses said.
“Any win in the TEC, you’ve earned it,” Moses added. “To earn one tonight is special and validates what they did this week in practice.”
It was also the first win for Union County over the Tigers since the Patriots won 67-43 in Liberty on Dec. 13, 2013.
“It’s nice to not be feeling salty for the next day for once,” Moses said. “It’s big. It puts us at 2-0 in the conference and give us a chance heading into Winchester to try continue.”
The Patriots (3-1, 2-0) meet the Golden Falcons (1-3, 1-0) in Winchester next Friday.
The contest was tied 15-15 after the first quarter, but the Patriots scored nine straight points in the second period to hold a 24-15 advantage with 2:50 left in the half.
“I saw a lot of good things from our guys,” Hagerstown Head Coach Bobby Jones said. “To fight back on the road, it’s a credit to them. We didn’t have enough to get over the hump. Too many missed opportunities.”
Union County led 28-21 at the intermission, but the Tigers clawed back to go on top 38-35 by the end of the third when Noah Dale drilled a 3-pointer in the last second.
“Our kids responded,” Jones said. “They had a much better second half.”
The Tigers were able to build a 42-36 lead with 5:18 remaining in the contest.
“We were up six and didn’t know how to run an offense,” Jones said. “We’ve just got to be able to settle down when we have a lead like that late in the game.”
The Patriots were able to answer and eventually tie it at 42-42 as Mook Shepler hit a lay-up as he took a behind-the-back pass from Cam Sanford with 3:12 to go.
“Our guys have a calmness about them,” Moses said.
At the 1:32 mark, Michael Howard scored for the Tigers and it was even at 45-45.
Although the Patriots didn’t score a basket the rest of the way, they hit six free throws to put the game away.
Mason Miller led the Patriots 12 points, while Preston Scott finished with 11.
Shepler added eight points with Sanford and Trevor Reibolt ending with seven each. Cameron Donovan contributed six points to go with a team-high eight rebounds.
Jalen Oliver led the Tigers with 21 points and 15 rebounds.
Dale added 14 points and Cody Swimm had seven.
The Patriots also won the JV match-up 49-31 as Blake Fields finished with 14 points. Nate Webb added 10.
Brady McMillan and Branton Payne both had eight points for the Tigers.
Hagerstown (1-2, 0-1) gets a visit from Centerville (2-3, 0-1) next Friday for another TEC contest.