Rabun County pulls upset to end Model’s season
♦ Blue Devils end campaign in the Sweet 16 for second consecutive year.
A late surge nearly pushed them over the hump, but the Model Blue Devils saw their season come to an end in the Class AA Sweet 16 with a 53-47 loss to the Rabun County Wildcats Saturday in Shannon.
Model (22-6) trailed by 17 points in the third quarter and by 13 points with three minutes to go in the ballgame, but erupted on a 10-1 run to cut it to a 51-47 deficit with 53 seconds left. However, a few missed three-pointers in the final minute sealed the win for Rabun County, the No. 3 seed out of Region 8.
“I thought in the fourth quarter we showed up and made it a game,” Blue Devils head coach Jacob Travis said. “We missed a lot around the basket and we missed a lot of free throws, and that’s a hard-to-play defense when you’re missing free throws and missing layups. Basketball is a hard sport when you’re not making shots, especially shots that you normally make.”
Rabun County (9-20) got off to a hot start, jumping out to an 11-2 lead before Model finally made their first field goal with 3:09 left in the first quarter. The Wildcats relied on some physical play underneath to take a 29-19 lead into halftime.
“They did a great job defending us, and we got out of the gates slow,” Travis said. “We missed shots early that we normally make, so we had to play from behind and that was hard to do against a team that was as wellcoached as they were.”
The offensive woes for Model continued through the third quarter, with Rabun County able to string together a 10-0 run at one point to take their largest lead of the game at 41-24.
Bit by bit, the Blue Devils would begin to chip away, getting big baskets from Jeremias Heard, Cole Mathis, and Carson Cole.
After a Jakenes Heard layup with 53 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Model had pulled to within four. However, the Wildcats would proceed to do enough at the free throw line in front of a hostile and loud Woodard Gymnasium to come away with the win.
It was a tough way to end the year for a Model team that defied all expectations on the way to one of the better seasons in recent memory.
“We lost our three leading scorers and had two injuries that were season-ending, and turned it around and went 22-6 and won our region,” Travis said. “So, I just said that to them—our leaders have been phenomenal, and our seniors are our leaders. They’re not our stars, they’re not our leading scorers, but they’ve led us in every direction.”
With the win, Rabun County advances to the Elite Eight for the first time in program history. The Wildcats will play Thomasville.
Mathis led Model with 13 points, Cole added 11, and Jeremias Heard finished with eight off the bench.