An early season matchup of heavyweights lived up to its billing Tuesday night as Habersham Central High School came out on top of Winder-Barrow High School, 80-77, in overtime in the first region game of the year.
The Raiders (7-1, 1-0 Region 8-AAAAA) were ranked No. 6 and the Bulldoggs (8-2, 0-1 8-5A) were sitting at No. 4 in the rankings done by the website Sandy’s Spiel. The site is run by Kyle Sandy and has become the preeminent source on high school basketball within the state of Georgia.
The upset was a big one. Not only was it a Top-10 matchup, but it was in region and at home for the Raiders.
“I wouldn’t have cared if it was against a team ranked 1000th. We just needed a region win to get started off,” HCHS Head Coach Tommy Yancey said. “Against somebody that good – that’s a really good team over there. They are high level. We just happened to make enough plays. We made enough plays down the stretch and that’s really just what it came down to.”
The game started off as a foot race with only one runner: the Raiders.
Winder-Barrow was able to hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 11 before the Raiders rattled off an 8-0 run to take a 19-11 lead.
The Bulldoggs then pushed down the floor and hit a layup with six seconds left on the clock, seemingly ending the scoring in the first quarter. But senior Enzo Combs had other ideas as he hit a three-quarter court shot to beat the buzzer and push the lead to 22-13.
The momentum was all seemingly in favor of the home squad for the second quarter, but Winder-Barrow didn’t see it that way. The Bulldoggs rattled off a 9-3 run, drawing the lead to within one point just two minutes in.
Throughout the rest of the quarter, Winder-Barrow closed on a 18-12 run for a 40-37 lead at the halfway point.
HCHS regrouped in the third, out-scoring the Bulldoggs 17-13 to swing a one-point lead heading into the final period of regulation. Eleven of the Raiders 17 points in the quarter came from Combs.
The final period of play saw senior Josiah “JoJo” McCurry put eight points on the board, rounding out his 21 on the night for HCHS. McCurry complemented his 21 points with eight rebounds.
The two teams went into the overtime period tied at 68. In the extra four minutes of play, Combs put in seven points, including a circus-esque layup off a steal to put his team up for good.
The Bulldoggs had the ball with 2.6 seconds left on the clock and got a good inbounds play to halfcourt with a good look at the basket. The shot bounced off the rim as the buzzer sounded.
Combs finished the contest with 32 points and five assists. He connected on 6-of-7 attempts from beyond the three-point line and 2-of-3 free throw attempts. Both of those made free throws came in the overtime period.
Yancey praised his senior guard’s performance after the game.
“Enzo is Enzo. That’s all I can say. He’s special,” he said. “We see it every day, so I get it. Sometimes, to us, we can almost get numb to it. He’s a different cat. That’s the best guard in the state of Georgia if you ask me.”
When asked about Comb’s steal and layup to effectively seal the game, Yancey said he expected nothing less.
“He doesn’t get meaningless points. Enzo gets us big buckets,” Yancey said. “The other team is over there scheming to make sure he doesn’t get those buckets. I don’t think people understand sometimes just how hard that is and impressive for what he does.”
Yancey said he wasn’t surprised by his team’s comeback effort in the third quarter after being out-scored 27-15 in the second quarter. The head man says they talk all the time about the importance of body language and staying in the moment because it only takes a few shots before they’re the ones on a run and back in the ballgame. “They’re just resilient kids,” he said.
Now, it’ll be three weeks before the Raiders are back in their home gym, which will be a Dec. 31 contest against rival Stephens County High School. In that time, they’ll play a pair of region games (Friday, Dec. 13 at Alcovy High School and Tuesday, Dec. 17 at Jackson County High School) and four non-region contests. The importance of getting that first region win is not lost on Yancey. To get it at home might be even bigger with such a time away from home coming up.
“It feels great to give the home crowd something to be excited about. It’s a special team,” Yancey said. “We’re entertaining. I know it’s something people around here want to see. Hopefully we’ll be able to get as many here as we can and get a couple of state games here if it works out.”
The Raiders tip off at 7:30 p.m. at Alcovy in Covington tonight (Dec. 13) for their second region matchup of the season.
