BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Thomas Williams had an incredible performance after halftime, scoring 19 points in the third quarter, but he and his Union County High School teammates faced too large of a deficit in what was a 69-39 loss to top seed Newberry in the semifinals of the District 6-1A boys basketball tournament on Feb. 8 at Fort White High School.
The fourth seed Tigers (12-11) scored only 11 points in the first half and trailed by 40 against the team that’s second in all of Class 1A in the Florida High School Athletic Association power rankings. Union was 4 of 23 from the field and committed 18 turnovers — 13 of which led to Newberry points.
Union did tie the game early after falling behind 5-0. Gavin Jenkins had a layup off a Jayden Jenkins assist, while Kam Paytee made a three-pointer. The Panthers, though, scored the next nine points and outscored the Tigers 18-3 the rest of the first quarter.
The game got completely away from Union in the second quarter. After a Deonte Jones basket pulled the Tigers to within 25-11, Newberry (15-7) scored 26 straight points to close out the half. Juwan Scippio started the run with eight straight points off two three pointers and two free throws that followed his own steal.
Scippio scored 20 points in the half and finished with 22.
Thanks to Williams, the Tigers — despite a running clock — were able to cut their deficit by more than half. Williams was fouled on a shot attempt after grabbing an offensive rebound, making both free throws for the first points of the third quarter. Newberry’s Malachi Meachum and Williams traded three-point baskets. Williams then grabbed a defensive rebound and dribbled the length of the court, drawing a foul on his way to the basket. He made 1 of 2 free throws, with Gavin Jenkins rebounding the miss. Jenkins passed the ball out to Williams, who knocked down another three-pointer.
Williams later got to the foul line again, making one free throw. Two consecutive Newberry turnovers led to three-point baskets by Williams. After a missed shot by the Panthers, Williams hit his fifth three-pointer of the quarter.
A Johnte Nichols defensive rebound led to a Gavin Jenkins dunk, capping a 19-0 run that made the score 54-32.
That’s as close as the Tigers would get.
Williams finished with 22 points, while Jones, Nichols and Gavin Jenkins each had four. Union also got three points from Paytee and two points from Jayden Jenkins.
