Houston County rallies in fourth quarter to put away Kennesaw Mountain in Sweet 16

WARNER ROBINS — For the first time in the MaxPreps era, Houston County is headed to the Elite Eight.

The Bears (23-6) beat Kennesaw Mountain (17-12) 64-43 on Saturday after a fourth-quarter rally turned a single-digit deficit into 20 for the Mustangs just three minutes into the period.

A packed crowd showed up for the final home game of the 2025-26 season and helped push the team along to Buddy Bivins’ first Elite Eight appearance as head coach.

“It’s exciting. The admin did a good job of pumping it the last couple days at school trying to get everybody to get there. Their support means the world,” Bivins said. “We haven’t had it too much in the past, in the last few years it’s kind of starting to pick up. It definitely is a reason why that region championship is so important.”

“It may not mean so much next year with [the Post Season Ranking formula], but being able to play these games at home definitely is an advantage,” He continued. “We might have gotten there last year if we didn’t go on the road. [We] end up losing by three to Alexander.”

There’s no denying home court advantage played a big part in HoCo’s second-half momentum takeover, but they also did some things well they desperately need to at this time of year.

Rebounding has been the number one issue Bivins and his staff have harped on the team about, and the Bears did that well from the tip against Kennesaw Mountain.

They chased long rebounds and committed bodies to the glass. Even the guards got in on the action to make the Mustangs be one-and-done on offense and give up extra opportunities on defense.

When Braylin Mills had his block party in the final two quarters HoCo closed out the defensive glass by tracking those down. Overall it was one of, if not the best, rebounding efforts for the team this year.

“We’ve been preaching, ‘Rebound, rebound’ all year so finally I guess it all came together outside of one possessions,” Bivins said. “We had made a marker that we did rebound the ball pretty well in the first half…we just didn’t score as efficiently…Second half shots started falling and it kind of helped spread the lead out.”

That performance became necessary as the first half wore on. The Bears had trouble getting shots to fall at any level between bad bounces on the rim or a stout interior defense. They trailed 17-13 after the first quarter.

Kennesaw Mountain scored the first two points of the second quarter but HoCo fought back with a 7-0 run turned a 13-3 second quarter. Not a spectacular offensive output, but a dominant defensive quarter to give them a 26-20 halftime advantage.

Much like the back half of their first round game, the second half is where the Bears really separated themselves.

The Mustangs made a brief run to close out the third quarter, but through the first three minutes of the fourth quarter HoCo unleashed a 12-1 run that got the crowd loud and on their feet.

The Bears have Andrew Wahiwe to thank for starting that run; he scored the first two baskets of the quarter and had eight points in the period alone as a part of his 10-point game. On Saturday he was their “third guy.”

“Andrew’s a super confident guy,” Bivins said. “Unfortunately he’s had to sit behind two good guards, it’s been like that the last few years. He’s just been waiting on his opportunity. I know he gets frustrated at times and we stay on him, but he comes up big in big moments. He had a big game today, he was one of the big reasons why we won the semifinal game in the region tournament.”

“He had two threes that put us up one late in the fourth,” He continued. “Super confident kid, proud of him. Next year you’re probably gonna see more of him because he’ll have more responsibility when the other two leave.”

Now HoCo will set their sights on Woodward Academy, though they’ll have to hit the road since the top of the bracket won the universal coin toss for the quarterfinals.

The War Eagles have three players averaging 14.5 points per game and 6 rebounds per game or more, and they haven’t lost a game since Jan. 9. Most importantly, they have home court advantage.

“On the road we gotta play mistake-free basketball,” Bivins said. “Woodward’s going to be an extremely talented team, probably [the] most talented team we’ve faced this year. We’re not going to be able to have slow starts, not going to be able to have too many negative plays. The team that plays the most mistake-free basketball at this time in the year is the team that usually wins.”

UP NEXT

HoCo will play their Elite Eight matchup at Woodward Academy on March 4, time is to be announced. Woodward Academy’s girls are also still in the playoffs and they are supposed to host Coffee in the Elite Eight, meaning Wednesday could be a doubleheader.