The Banks County boys' basketball team struggled early in the season to find its identity.
After a Dec. 10 loss at East Hall, the team found its identity and hasn't looked back.
The Leopards' tidal wave of momentum continues to build and roll after making a statement last night against Putnam County. The emphatic and dominant 88-55 performance extended the team's winning streak to 15 games.
The win also secured the No. 1 seed for the Region 8-AA tournament, which takes place next week.
Gabe Martin made seven 3-pointers en route to a 22-point performance. Carl Cleveland added 18 points. Dylan Orr chipped in 14 points and Kahmal Wiley scored 13 points.
The Leopards play at Oglethorpe County on Friday and will host Elbert County on Saturday.
Battle in Rabun County
With four minutes to play in the fourth quarter, and in front of a hostile crowd at Rabun County, the Banks County Leopard boys’ basketball team found itself in unfamiliar territory.
The Leopards trailed by five points, 47-42, and needed a spark.
They found it in the form of Darius Bonds’ defense. Bonds forced three Rabun County turnovers and helped catapult the Leopards on a 16-0 run to defeat Rabun County 58-49 last Friday.
“Just knew that my team needed me in that situation,” Bonds said, “so, I figured why not step up and make a play.”
Head coach Mike Cleveland admitted it wasn’t one of Bonds’ better games through most of the first three quarters this season.
“He’s the kind of kid I can coach hard,” Cleveland said. “He’s going to listen to what I have to say. He’s a kid that wants to please.
“He’s a coachable guy. I always have confidence in (Bonds), so, when I threw him back in (the game), I told him ‘Pick it up. Let’s go.’ I thought he had a great couple of minutes right there. Might’ve been the difference in the game. That’s big for a kid, who had one of his poorest performances in a while up to that point, to step up right there those last two-three-four minutes and seal the deal for us. He stepped up big late.”
Bonds added that he told himself on the bench that he needed to “step up.”
“Play the way I know how to play, try and get my team the win,” he said. “Knew coach was depending on me to have the ball in my hands, so it was up to me to step up and take care of it.”
Wiley led the scoring with 29 points. Nineteen points came in the second half, including 15 in the fourth quarter. Cleveland had added 17 points.
“I told them we were just going bow our back and get stops and make baskets,” Cleveland said. “We talk a lot about a lot of games come down to a couple of stops and a couple of made shots.”
Cleveland said the team got a “couple” of the stops late but made “foolish” decisions and didn’t come away with points. But, they were able to come away with transition points when the pace of the game picked up, which “for once,” Cleveland felt, benefitted his team.
“Boy, we made a great run right there at the end to get that win,” he said. “Proud of the guys.”
The Leopards clung to a 16-12 lead after the first quarter. In the second quarter, the defense made stops and held the Wildcats to three points in the quarter. Wiley, Cleveland and Dylan Orr scored the Leopards’ 12 points in the second to bump the lead to 28-15.
The Wildcats made the third quarter their playpen, trailing by as many as 13 points, the Wildcats made runs of 10-0 and 8-0, respectively, and tied the game at 38-38 entering the fourth quarter.
In the final quarter, a 9-4 run by the Wildcats put the Leopards behind 47-42. Three-consecutive baskets by Wiley gave the Leopards the go-ahead lead for good at 48-47.
Wiley added seven more points to finish his 29-point performance.
