Banks County raced out to a comfy lead, but the #3-ranked Rabun County Wildcats recovered quickly and went on to take a 67-54 win in Homer on Friday.

Senior Huey Blalock dropped in a game-high 24 points as Rabun (17-2; 6-1 in 8-A DI) earned the win over the Leopards (10-11; 3-5). The latter got out to a quick 9-2 start, as Macade Huff had four points early on.

Hayes Free threw down a dunk off a beautiful lob from Blalock, who moments later had a 3-point play then hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to end the opening quarter. Blalock had a dozen as Rabun led 16-10.

Free added another electrifying dunk in the second, and the Wildcats were up 32-23 at the break. The Leopards roared back in the third, outscoring Rabun 16-13 to get within two points late in the quarter.

Freshman Gavin Barker had three shots from downtown, and Huff continued to pour in buckets to narrow the gap. In the final quarter though, Blalock, Free, Reed Burrell, and Trace Adcock pulled away.

For Rabun, Blalock had 24 points to lead the way. Free ended with 17 and Burrell 13, while Adcock had seven and Landan Bedingfield added five. The Wildcats had seven 3-pointers in the contest.

Huff led the Leopards with 21 points, and was followed by Barker’s nine, while Dayden Rogers and Caden Watson each finished with eight. Aidan Beasley had four and Griffin Hill added two.

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