By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–It was a payback of the best kind for Union City.
Avenging three earlier losses this season to Milan and five straight over the past two years, the Golden Tornadoes convincingly whipped the Bulldogs 60-40 in the Region 6-2AA semifinals Tuesday night at Camden High School.
Streaking UC (12-18) won for the sixth time in its last seven games and earned a spot in Thursday’s tournament championship game as well as a berth in Monday’s sectional round.
Another victory vs. Gibson County Thursday at 7 p.m. at Camden would secure a home game for the Twisters Monday against the loser of the Fairview-Giles County Region 5 title game. Should Union City lose Thursday, it would travel to the winner of the Fairview-GC contest Monday.
The Tornadoes – who lost to Milan by three, seven, and 10 points in earlier meetings – put on a near-flawless clinic in the first half Tuesday while taking a commanding 25-point halftime lead.
Playing with tremendous confidence on both ends, the Purple and Gold took an immediate advantage via a Jaylen Lewis layup 20 seconds into the contest and never trailed.
UC was most impressive during a 25-5 blitz in the second quarter that essentially decided the outcome. Joseph Lattus buried a trio-of 3-pointers, and Maliki Brooks knocked down a pair of triples to fuel the explosion.
Lewis provided the perfect inside compliment to the Twisters’ outside bombers, finishing with seven points in both halves on his way to a 14-point effort.
Union City head coach Shane Sisco said the difference between Tuesday and the other games against Milan this year was simple: Made shots.
“We just got off to such a good start on both ends – we made shots, we held them to 12 points in the first half, we did it on both ends.,” he claimed. “It was very similar to what we did on Saturday night against Hickman County in the quarterfinals.”
“Three weeks ago, we got beat by a combined 68 points in back-to-back games. We just met with the kids and told them, ‘This is not over. We’re not going to quit.’ We made some adjustments, and one of them was to stop being so aggressive defensively. We’ve done a better job over the last three weeks of keeping people in front of us.
“But obviously, the most important thing that’s happened over the last three weeks was getting Malaki Brooks back. He gives the rest of our kids such great confidence, and they play so much more relaxed. And they’re obviously more effective.”
Brooks, who did not play against Milan in any of the earlier contests due to a foot injury, finished with a game-high 17 points to pace a trio of Tornadoes in double figures. D.J. Robinson joined that group with 10 points, while Lattus pitched in with nine.
“We knew how they were going to guard our four shooters,” Sisco continued. “We thought if we could spread the floor, there would be some opportunities around the goal. Jaylen (Lewis) was really effective and was a lane-stopper on defense, too. He rebounded well, also, and contributed in a lot of areas.”
Ahead 37-12 at the half, UC survived a six-minute drought without a bucket to begin the third quarter. The Bulldogs could muster but four points during that time, however, and a Ben Kail trifecta and four points by Jack Tully inside made it 45-19 after three quarters.
Milan never truly threatened down the stretch, getting no closer than 16 points as UC made 9-of-16 from the foul line.
The Bulldogs, who finished as state runners-up in Class 2A last season, finished this year with a 21-8 record.