Blairsville, Georgia- The Union County Panthers basketball team hosted Habersham Central in a non region matchup in the Panthers first game of the season.

First Quarter

The Panthers got on the board first as Austin Taylor found Landon Kight for a layup to begin the game. Lake Hughes missed a 3 pointer but Hayden Payne came flying in for the rebound and was fouled. Payne missed both free throws but Kight got the rebound and made the layup to extend the Panthers lead to 4-0. The Raiders responded with a deep 2 and got a steal and scored to tie it at 4. The Raiders made a 3 pointer and made a quick layup after a Panther turnover to take a 9-4 lead. Taylor took a charge to give the Panthers some momentum after another missed shot. Taylor would make a floater to cut the deficit to 9-6. The Raiders extended their lead to 10-6 after making 1/2 free throws. The Raiders made another 3 and forced the Panthers to call timeout as the Panthers trailed 13-6. Kight got the rebound after a miss and got fouled on the made put back. Kight would miss the free throw and the Panthers now trailed 13-9. Lake Hughes stole the ball at mid court and made the layup to cut the deficit to 13-11. Jude Ellis made a 3 pointer to give the Panthers their first lead of the game 14-13. The Raiders quickly responded and retook the lead 15-14. Ellis made a great move, got fouled and made the layup to give the Panthers the lead 16-15. Ellis would miss the free throw but Eli Underwood got the rebound and made the layup to extend the Panthers lead 18-15. The Raiders quickly responded and cut the deficit to 18-17. The Raiders stole the ball away and made a buzzer beater layup to take a 19-18 lead to end the first quarter.

Second Quarter

To begin the second quarter, Kight made a nice turnaround jumper to give the Panthers a 20-19 lead. Ellis made another spectacular layup to extend the Panthers lead to 22-19. Kight scored again in the paint to extend the Panthers lead to 24-19 and the Panthers were on a 6-0 run to begin the quarter. The Raiders responded and cut the deficit to 24-21. Houston Henry got the rebound and made a contested layup to give the Panthers a 26-21 lead. Henry got fouled driving in for a layup and made both free throws to extend the lead to 28-21. Kight scored off an inbound pass while getting fouled. Kight missed the following free throw. The Raiders responded with a layup to cut the Panther lead to 30-23. Kight scored again and extended the Panther lead back to 9, 32-23. Ellis scored on a mid range jumper to give the Panthers a 34-23 lead, the largest of the game. Both teams went on a run where no shots were made. The Raiders finally made 2 free throws to cut the Panther lead to 34-25 at halftime.

Third Quarter

Habersham got on the board first in the half after 2 turnovers by the Panthers. Taylor responded with a 3 pointer to extend the lead to 37-27. The Raiders made 1/2 free throws after a foul by Hughes and cut the Panther lead to 37-28. The Raiders were fouled again attempting another shot but missed both free throws. The Panthers were on a run of turning the ball over since the Taylor 3 pointer. The Panthers fouled the Raiders again and the Raiders had an and-1 opportunity. The Raiders made the free throw and cut the Panther lead to 37-30. The Panthers had yet to score and the Raiders cut the lead to 4, forcing the Panthers to call timeout. Underwood drove to the basket and got fouled. Underwood made 1/2 free throws to put the Panthers up 38-33. Taylor made a layup off the side of the backboard to extend the Panther lead to 7, 40-33. The Panthers led 40-33 at halftime.

Fourth Quarter

Both teams started the quarter with a couple missed shots but Jude Ellis got the Panthers on the board first with a highly contested off balance floater. The Panthers and Raiders went on a miss streak again and the Raiders were fouled on an attempted layup. The Raiders made both free throws and cut the Panther lead to 44-35. The Raiders shot 2 more free throws after another foul by the Panthers. The Raiders missed both free throws but made 4 quick points off of 3 Panther turnovers and cut the Panther lead to 44-39. Kight responded with a corner 3 and gave the Panthers some momentum again. Kight got called for a block and the Raiders made both free throws to cut the lead back down to 47-41. Underwood was fouled after an attempted put back layup. Underwood made 1/2 free throws to give the Panthers a 48-41 lead. Ellis made an impressive step back 3 to give the Panthers a 51-41 lead. The Raiders made a little comeback but the Panthers were making all of their free throws as the Raiders were intentionally fouling them to give themselves more time to comeback. The Panthers held on to their lead and beat the Raiders 58-50. The Panthers traveled to Rabun Gap on Wednesday night and lost to the Eagles 84-41.