BUFORD — In what could be an early preview of the Region 8-6A boys final, No. 5 Buford held off No. 4 Shiloh 49-46 on Friday night in both teams’ Region 8-6A finales at the Buford Arena.
The Wolves (20-5, 11-1 Region 8-6A) already had clinched the top seed but Shiloh, which now has lost five straight, got back senior point guard Trevon Payton from injury. Despite the losing streak, the Generals (19-5, 8-4 Region 8-6A) still finished in second in the region with Dacula losing to Lanier on Friday in their finale.
It was a tight game most of the way. Buford led 12-11 after the opening period and eventually took a 22-18 lead at halftime. The Wolves exploded for an 8-0 run to open the third quarter for a 30-18 lead but Shiloh rallied to within 35-30 heading into the fourth quarter.
Buford maintained its lead and held off several Shiloh runs down the stretch. The Generals did get within the final score with under 10 seconds left and had the ball, but missed a 3-pointer and Buford ran out the final 5 seconds of the game.
Alahn Sumler paced Buford with 15 points, 7 coming in the final period, including two big 3-pointers to keep Shiloh at bay. London Williams added 12 points and Jaylon Tayler and Malachi Brown each had 11 points for the Wolves.
DJ Leak paced Shiloh with 11 points. Duntarius Williams had 9 points for the Generals. Payton finished with 4 points in his first action in three weeks.
RABUN COUNTY 86,
BANKS COUNTY 64
The Wildcats completed an undefeated region schedule on Friday with a win at home.
The win moved Rabun County (20-5, 8-0 Region 8-2A) within one win of the school-record for a season, set in the 2014-15 campaign. It also was their seventh straight win overall.
Rabun led 19-12 after the first quarter and took a 35-26 lead into halftime. Banks County (7-18, 3-5 Region 8-2A) hung tough trailing 60-49 heading into the fourth. But the Wildcats outscored the Leopards 26-15 in the final period to blow it open.
Connor McKay continued his strong play with another double-double with 31 points and 13 rebounds, and he dished out 5 assists as well to lead Rabun County. Gus Hood added 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists, Cooper Welch had 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists, and Grayson Carver chipped in with 11 points for the Wildcats.
GREENBRIER 68,
JOHNSON 24
The Knights fell behind early and never caught back in a loss in both teams’ regular season finales.
Greenbrier opened the game with a 21-5 first quarter and held Johnson scoreless in the second quarter while building a 28-5 lead.
The Wolfpack (17-8, 11-3 Region 8-5A) also clinched the No. 2 seed in the upcoming region tournament with the win.
An injury-riddled Johnson team fell to 1-24 and finished 0-14 in region play.
Demetri Moon led Johnson with 11 points.
Hampton Goff paced Greenbrier with 10 points.
Both teams will be in action next at Clarke Central in the Region 8-5A Tournament.
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