HOMER — There is definitely no place like home for Banks County, especially in the first round of the Georgia High School Association playoffs.
The Leopards won for the sixth time in their last seven first-round games, bludgeoning Temple 69-40 Tuesday night at home in the opening round of the Class 2A playoffs.
It was a far cry from the Leopards’ last outing, a frustrating loss to Elbert County, on their home floor, in the Region 8-2A championship game.
“We talked all week about being more aggressive in all phases, “ Banks County coach Ryan Griffin said. “They came in focused and really shared the ball well tonight I thought.”
But the start against the Tigers was not what Griffin and the Leopards had prepared for.
“Every game on film we saw of them, they pressed,” he said. “So we weren’t really prepared for how they started things off.”
The Tigers got the throw-in to start the game and held the ball for over a minute until the Leopards came out of their zone defense to defend.
“We could’ve played a slow-down game if that’s what (Temple) wanted to do. But I looked at the kids on the floor and asked them what they wanted to do. The guys wanted to play. We were fine either way.”
It went bad the rest of the way for Temple.
The Tigers turned it over on their first pass, Banks County converted it into a pair of Pierce Martin free throws, and that ignited a 7-0 run in less than 90 seconds.
After a timeout, Temple trimmed it to 7-3 on an RJ Boles three-point play and Boles later cut the lead to 11-8 on a fastbreak basket. But Banks took a 16-8 lead at the end of the first quarter on a dunk by Dakota Orr and a 3-pointer from Garrett Pressley.
Boles struck again cutting it to 18-11 early in the second quarter and then the Leopards exploded. Orr started and ended what would turn into an 18-0 run with a pair of driving baskets. In between, Martin drained two more 3-pointers and Bradley Lewis had a basket and two free throws and Pressley and Clay Gosnell also scored as they needed just four minutes to run out to a 42-14 lead.
“We didn’t want to stand around after warming up for 15 minutes so when coach asked us, we wanted to play,” Martin said. “I thought we played very well in the first half.”
Banks County was a blistering 17-of-25 while they held the Tigers to just 5-of-21 shooting in the first half and led 44-16 at the break. They continued the onslaught in the third quarter leading 64-31 and inducing a six-minute clock for the fourth quarter.
The Leopards led by as many as 38 early in the fourth quarter before the Tigers scored the final nine points.
Pressley finished with 19 points to lead Banks County. Orr added 16 points and Martin had 15 for the Leopards.
Boles poured in a game-high 25 points to lead Temple (14-13).
Banks County (19-8) now moves into the Sweet 16 and will take on the winner of the Dade County-Pace Academy matchup on Wednesday. Pace was the 2020 Class 3A state champion. A Pace Academy win would put the Leopards on the road in the second round.
“We don't know who we have yet but I know Pace has most everyone back and they’re the state champions,” Griffin said. “We played some tough teams this year and bigger schools so we feel prepared for the playoffs. But if it’s Pace, it will certainly be the biggest challenge we’ve faced this year.”
