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Local Sports

Local sports in the Panhandle are not just a game, they are a lifestyle. Our community eats, sleeps and breathes cheering on our local athletes.
News13 is On Your “Sidelines” bringing you more than the score.
News13’s Stephen Gunter is committed to giving you stories of the Panhandle’s top athletes, intriguing match-ups and unusual sports you may not even know exist.
sgunter@wmbb.com

Thursday, February 21, 2008

From the Bay to the Gulf

PANAMA CITY- “The first thing that I saw about Jonathan that our program needed was his attitude of being a winner. I saw something, that hunger, that fire and that willingness to do what it takes to win and I fell in love with it,” said GCCC head coach Jay Powell.

That’s the word on Jonathan Murner; he strives to be a winner.

The former Bay High Tornado hopes he can help mold the Commodore basketball program into a championship contender, and he’s glad he can do that in his home town.

“I always knew I really wanted to come here, stay here in town and get my feet under me, and I’m glad to be here,” said freshman guard Jonathan Murner.

Well no change of scenery for Murner means he still gets to see the same familiar faces in the stands.

“It’s great. It’s nothing like it. I stay here and the same people in high school I had cheering me on, I have coming to these games. Big crowd, I have my own fan section, which is great, and lots of people watching me and cheering me on,” Murner said.

Stepping up to a much improved Gulf Coast squad has helped Murner take his game to the next level.

“One of the best things I think I’ve stepped up in this year is defense. We work on it hard everyday. Coach Powell really harps on defense. The aggressiveness of the game, you have to have aggressiveness in this league, and I’ve really worked on being aggressive and being strong with the ball and that’s helped me a lot,” said Murner.

“Two things he’s improved on are his strength and his consistency in shooting. Much to my pleasure and to his too I believe, he’s shot the ball even better than we knew he could this season,” said Powell.

So building the program around players like Murner is a big reason why improvement and winning are now visible in Commodore basketball.

“I think our community should be very proud that a young man can go and get a great high school education locally, he can come here to this college and play athletics locally and succeed and do very well on the highest level of junior college athletics here in the Panhandle Conference,” Powell said.

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