In an intense battle of cross-town rivals, Banks County held on and led wire-to-wire in a 71-63 thriller Tuesday night in Homer. The game wasn’t without drama, as Commerce (7-4; 0-1 in 8-A DI) got within one point several times, but the Leopards (6-5; 2-0) clung tight and held on for the early region win.
All the points for Banks County came from 5 players, all of whom scored in double figures. Commerce had 8 different players contribute to the scoring.
Luke Dale had back-to-back 3-pointers for the Leopards to open the game, and Kolby Watson had 6 points in the opening period, which had Banks up 17-14. Dayden Rogers caught fire in the second, though Maki Mitchell had a huge shot from downtown to keep Commerce close at 32-28 heading into the break.
The third is when things intensified. Watson had an electric 3-point play, while Dale had a critical shot from long range moments later. Just when Banks County looked to be pulling away, Bryson Parks came up with 7 points for the Tigers to claw back into it, and Jeremiah Jarrells hit a layup at the buzzer to end the third in a 50-45 game.
An already chippy game started to get physical in the fourth. Evan Peters and Ty Sorrells had buckets to get within 50-49 before Dale hit another clutch shot from long distance, and Watson added one also.
With Commerce down 8 points with just over 2 minutes to go, a furious comeback attempt again got the Tigers to within a single point. Peters had a free throw, Essien Lockleer and Sorrells had driving layups, and Mitchell connected on a couple of technical freebies to make it a 64-63 game. However, Banks County went on a 7-0 run to close the contest.
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Rogers and Watson had 19 and 18 points, respectively to lead Banks County. Dale finished with 14, while both Caden Watson and Antonio Gonzalez recorded 10.
The Tigers were paced by Lockleer’s 14 points. Peters and Mitchell each finished with 11, and Sorrells had 9. Parks had 7, Zavion Smith had 6, Jarrells 4, and Tyler Hardman added 1.
SEE ALSO
Banks County connects on 14 3-pointers in blowout over Commerce [VIDEO]
