KARNS CITY - Union forward Adam Milanovich held up two fingers as he walked off the Karns City High School basketball floor and bellowed, "That's two. That's two."

That's two as in two wins over Karns City in the span of five days. And two as in two unlikely protagonists doing the damage for the Golden Knights.

This time it was senior guard Devin Davis' turn to slip out of the shadows and into the bright spotlight to dispatch Karns City.

Davis scored 21 points - all during a scintillating first three quarters - as Union left Karns City with a 73-63 win Monday.

Five days ago, it was sophomore Gary Cooper blitzing the Gremlins for 27 points.

It left Karns City coach Steve Andreassi with only a shrug to account for it.

"It was the best night of his career," said Karns City coach Steve Andreassi. "He may never have another night like it."

Davis came into the game with a single game high of 10 points. He was averaging just 2.5 points per contest.

Karns City (16-5) was content to let Davis pull up for short jumpers. He did - and made most of them.

"Devin doesn't shoot a lot," said Union coach Karen Davis, Devin's mother, coach and biggest fan all rolled into one. "He doesn't score a lot of points, but he gets a lot of assists. Devin knows he doesn't have to shoot a whole lot."

That's what Kyle Hilliard and Milanovich are for.

Karns City, though, was paying particularly close attention to Union's two main scoring threats.

Hilliard did end up with 20 points, including 13 in the second half as Union (17-4) rallied from another sizable halftime deficit to beat Karns City.

The Gremlins led 42-35 at the half. During the last meeting, they led by 10 points at the half.

After a healthy dose of scoring in the first half, points were hard to come by in the final 16 minutes for Karns City as it managed a mere 21 points.

Devin Davis outscored Karns City by himself (11-10) in the third quarter as Union pulled ahead by five.

"I just told them to keep playing the way they had been playing," Karen Davis said. "We just needed to take the ball to the hole more. I didn't think we were doing that enough."

Karns City had trouble scoring because it had trouble keeping possession of the basketball. The Gremlins committed 18 turnovers, most coming in the final two quarters.

"They didn't change anything (at halftime), and we didn't change anything," Andreassi said. "We just shot ourselves in the foot."

Union played a box-and-one on Karns City star Tyler Callihan the entire game. Hilliard mirrored Callihan's every move.

Callihan did end up with 19 points, but he went cold in the fourth quarter.

"They weren't easy points," Coach Davis said. "Kyle did an excellent job on defense."

Nathan Knox took advantage of the extra attention heaped on Callihan, scoring a game-high 23 points.

"That's what's been happening," Andreassi said. "I think Nathan takes offense when teams play a box-and-one on Tyler. I think he's offended because no one plays that on him."

Unlike last time the team's met, however, this one didn't mean as much.

The first meeting was the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference game. This was a non-conference affair.

Welcome to the wacky world of the KSAC.

"Wednesday's hurt more," Andreassi said. "There are a group of kids hurting right now (in the locker room), but this season is not in jeopardy because of a non-conference loss."

To Union, the win meant more than just another digit in the victory column. It was affirmation that the victory over Karns City Wednesday was no fluke.

Plus it came on the Gremlins' home floor - a place that hasn't been particularly kind to Davis in her coaching career with the Union girls and boys basketball teams.

"This is a tough place to play. Believe me, I know," Davis said. "To us, every game counts, and we came in here and beat a good team on their own floor."

UNION 73

Gary Cooper 1-2 0-0 2, Devin Davis 10-14 0-2 21, Cody Mortimer 3-5 0-0 7, Toby Painter 0-0 0-0 0, Bill Burns 3-6 3-6 10, Adam Milanovich 4-12 3-6 11, Kyle Hilliard 9-12 1-2 20. Totals: 30-51 7-16 73

KARNS CITY 63

David Black 1-4 0-0 3, Steve Black 0-2 0-0 0, Tyler Callihan 7-17 2-3 19, Nathan Knox 9-17 3-3 23, Mark Ferguson 4-8 2-2 10, Ryan Earley 2-6 0-0 4, Josh Behrens 2-4 0-0 4. Totals: 25-58 7-8 63

3-point goals:

Davis, Mortimer, Burns 3, Hilliard, D. Black, Callihan 3, Knox 2

JV:

Union 46-42

Wednesday:

Union @ Clarion

Friday:

Karns City @ Moniteau