Southwest struggles on offense, loses championship for second straight year

It takes a Herculean effort to quiet a Southwest crowd in the Macon Coliseum, but that’s exactly what point guard Huey Blalock and the Rabun County Wildcats did in Friday afternoon’s championship game.

The Patriots and the packed house in downtown Macon had their hearts broken in the title game for the second straight year, as Blalock exploded for 29 points and five assists in an effort that was too much for Southwest in a 52-43 loss in the GHSA Class A-Division I State Championship.

Though the Southwest crowd was formidable, a 6-point deficit with less than a minute left led to the deflated Patriots fans — many of them wearing shirts that read “Redemption time” in reference to last year’s championship loss against B.E.S.T. Academy — flocking for the exits. 

The supporters spent much of the game shell-shocked and silenced by one simple fact: Southwest simply could not shoot.

The Patriots had one of their worst offensive performances of the season in their final showdown, shooting 13-of-46 from the field and 4-of-24 from beyond the arc while only hitting 13-of-26 free throws.

Aside from a 27-point effort against a stacked Florida prep team early in the season, it was the lowest scoring performance by Southwest all year.

“We didn’t shoot it well at all, outside of maybe Chase (Dupree) who shot it okay,” head coach Monquencio Hardnett. “We went (13)-of-26 from the free throw line. You won’t beat a middle school team doing that.

“I don’t think it was nerves. All week I’ve been pointing those things out, we gotta do the small things to win. We didn’t do that. Rabun did, and we didn’t.”

The loss ends an era for the Patriots, as a senior class led by top scorers Dupree and CJ Howard as well as key contributors like Montese Green will graduate. 

“I had to just keep reminding them that, like I said last year, they didn’t lose the game of life. That’s the way they feel right now. It’s just a game. They’re gonna play plenty more games,” Hardnett said of his seniors. “They’ll be fine. It’s just tough when you lose this way … I just want to love on these guys. I’m so thankful for them and everything they’ve done for me and this region, the city of Macon.”

Even with its lackluster offensive performance, Southwest managed to stay in the game with solid defense and rebounding. The Patriots did meet in some of the goals they set ahead of the game — limiting the Wildcats’ 3-point shooting, for instance, as Rabun County only managed three shots from distance — but could not counter Blalock’s lethal scoring and motion.

Dupree led the Patriots with 20 points on 7-of-18 shooting and 2-of-7 at the charity stripe. Howard had 13 points, while no other Southwest player had more than 4 points.

Rabun County was clearly led by Blalock, a Navy commit who provided offense at all the right times for the Wildcats. The offensive gap was not as wide as the score sometimes made it seem — Rabun county only shot 19-of-46, just six shots better than Southwest’s effort. Hayes Free followed with 12 points, though he fouled out in the fourth quarter.

The first quarter was a disastrous one for Southwest, as the Patriots struggled from the floor — an effort not helped by a woeful streak of missed 3-pointers — and fell down by 17-5 by the time the buzzer sounded. 

Dupree and Howard missed shot after shot from beyond the arc and struggled to establish an offensive pace. Rabun County took advantage thanks to stellar dribbling and shooting from Huey Blalock, though the Wildcats did turn it over a few times to keep the lead from getting truly out of hand.

“We were taking some shots where I was kind of shaking my head,” Hardnett said of some long-range shots heaved up by his players.

The second quarter brought a slight improvement, particularly on the defensive end, as Southwest managed to force more mistakes and hold Rabun County’s long-distance and midrange shooting in check.  

Even after getting more contributions from Dupree and cutting the deficit to only 3 points at one time, though, the Patriots still entered halftime down 25-19 and in need of a serious adjustment. Southwest went a dreadful 6-of-25 from the field in the opening half, including a 3-of-16 mark from beyond the arc. Howard in particular was cold, missing all six of his 3-point attempts and going 1-of-9 from the field. 

Blalock led the floor with 14 of Rabun County’s 25 points in the first half.

It looked like the third quarter would bring more of the same when Southwest went down by 9 points. The Patriots crowd seemed out of it — after one timeout, the fans tried to start a chant, but the rest of the Southwest faithful never joined in. 

But with about two minutes left in the third quarter, the atmosphere changed, and the Patriots seemed to come to life.

Down 37-28, Dupree hit a midrange shot to break a scoring drought, then hit a free throw one play later. When Montese Green missed two free throws one possession later, Butts leapt up and snatched the rebound and hit a shot that awakened the fans in the crowd.

Southwest trapped Rabun County and stole the ball at halfcourt on the ensuing inbounds play, allowing Butts to get into the paint and draw the foul. He sank both free throws, capping the run and turning a 9-point game into a 37-35 Rabun County lead going to the fourth quarter.

Aside from the beginning of the game, it was the loudest the large Southwest crowd had been all afternoon.

“I felt like we played pretty good defense in the second half. We weren’t very good in the beginning,” Hardnett said. “But (Rabun County) did everything they were supposed to do to win a championship.”

The Wildcats snatched the momentum right back to start the fourth. First came a key block by Free against Southwest’s Octavius Raglin that led to an easy basket. Then Free got another layup after some shifty passing to give the Wildcats a 42-37 lead with 3:30 left to play.

The Patriots attempted to bounce back and got some momentum to make it 45-43, but the Wildcats got a 7-0 run over the game’s final 1:30 to seal the deal. 

It felt like Southwest missed some chances to take control of the contest down the stretch. One such moment, when Alex Butts was called for a foul despite appearing to get his teammates a steal after going to the floor, drew Hardnett’s attention.

“One kid dives on the floor like he’s taught to do every single day, taps the ball to his teammate and (the ref) calls a foul. That was an atrocious call when we were down by 1 point,” Hardnett said. “I don’t care what anybody feels about it, they can do whatever they want to me. They can scream human error. We’re human too. … It turned the game today and took a state championship from these young men.”

The Patriots finished the season 29-7, while Rabun County finished with a 30-2 record.