This past Saturday, the Fannin Rebels traveled to Union County to take on the Panthers for their second matchup of the season. Fannin looked to redeem themselves from their first game against the Panthers when they endured a 56-25 loss.

The Panthers started off with the ball and Fannin stayed neck and neck with them throughout the whole game. Dahla Myers led Fannin in scoring for the night with thirteen points overall. Union took an early lead in the first quarter just for Chandler Kendall to make a three point shot and tie the game 12-12. Kendall made three of his three point shots for the night and also added a foul shot to the mix to contribute ten points to Fannin’s score. The Panthers were able to add to their score and close out the first quarter with a 16-12 lead.

Kaeden Twiggs showed off his ball handling skills and was able to put Fannin two points behind the Panthers with an outside shot, leaving the score at 16-14. Twiggs added another jumpshot to the Rebels score later in the night and earned four points overall. Joel Kinser was an asset downlow where he blocked shots and put four points on the scoreboard for Fannin as well as Jalen Ingram who also contributed four. The Panthers were able to drive Fannin’s defense in as they passed out for shots to extend their lead to 30-24 to go into halftime.

Kendall banked one of his three point shots at the beginning of the third quarter just for Myers to turn around and also make a three to tie the game 30-30. The Panthers responded as they drew a foul and took a one point lead. Fannin sophomore, Cohutta Hyde, drove to the basket and gained a 32-31 lead for Fannin with his hustle. Union turned right back around and made an amazing hook shot to claim their two point lead. Brady Martin got the rebound off of a missed shot on Union’s side where he saw Chase Culpepper wide open for a shot that put Fannin back in the lead with a score of 34-33. Culpepper contributed four points to the Rebels score for the night with his outside shots while Martin added two. Fannin fouled as they were on defense and allowed the Panthers to tie up the game with a made free throw. Twiggs managed to get his hands on the ball and drove it back for one of his layups to take a 36-34 lead. Senior, Nathaniel Garrison, added to the trend as he made a move on the block and advanced the score to 38-34. Fannin fouled again and Union put the score at 38-35 to end the third quarter with Fannin in the lead.

Union started to catch back up to Fannin at the beginning of the fourth quarter as they scored a layup that put them one point behind with a score of 38-37. Culpepper did it again with one of his outside shots that put Fannin ahead 40-37. Each team kept adding to their score while Fannin kept the lead until the Panthers made a three point shot to tie the game 42-42. Union got fouled and went one for two on the free throw line, allowing them to take the 43-42 lead. More points kept being added on the teams score with the Panthers in the lead until Kendall tied up the game 45-45 with a made foul shot. Union snuck through the back door for a layup to claim a 47-45 lead with just ten seconds left on the clock. Fannin had possession of the ball and was about to throw it in bounds when the Rebels called a time out. Fannin used all but one of their four time outs with the clock still at ten seconds while Union called two. After the five back to back timeouts were called, Fannin finally was able to throw the ball in to try to create an open shot. After four second of dribbling the ball around, the Rebels called their last time out at six seconds to strategize how to get to the basket. When the Rebels got back on the court, Union played a heavy defense on them where they were unable to get to the goal as the buzzer sounded with the Panthers ahead 47-45. Fannins tough loss put their overall record at 3-17 while their region record remained the same at 0-7.