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Andre Mulibea had quite the debut in the storied East-Highland rivalry Friday night.

The freshman took over in the fourth quarter, scoring 12 of a career-high 24 points to carry the visiting Leopards to a 65-56 victory over their Region 5 rival.

"It was a great experience," Mulibea said. "We had a good run there at the end. I was definitely more aggressive. That was part of the plan. My teammates got me the ball and we had a great run."

Mulibea's offense helped key a 13-2 run as East (9-6, 2-3) broke open a back-and-forth game every bit deserving of the tradition of the rivalry.

The game featured scoreboard malfunctions, a four-minute interruption because of a water balloon tossed onto the floor, buzzer-beating baskets, and 10 lead changes in the second half.

Hayden Banz had 15 points, including buzzer-beating 3-pointers to end the first and third quarters, and Taylor Zwick added 12 for the Leopards, who had dropped four of their previous five games.

It could be a sign of things to come for Mulibea, who shot 8 of 11 from the field.

"He's pretty special," East coach Skip Lowe said of Mulibea. "He's got great upside and tonight he really played a good game."

Mikey Shelton grabbed 18 rebounds for East, which led by as many as 11 points with 1:43 to play before Highland made a late push with help from its full-court press.

Elijah Shelton scored 17 points and Trayton Keyes added 14 for the Rams (8-7, 2-2), who struggled from long range all night. Highland missed its first nine 3-pointers and finished the game 1 of 15 from long range.

"We try to take away actions and personnel, and sometimes it works better than others," Lowe said. "We try to focus and take away things they are good at." —

East 65, Highland 56

R Freshman Andre Mulibea had a career-high 24 points in his rivalry debut.

• The game was interrupted for four minutes less than a minute into the game after a fan threw a water balloon onto the court.

• Elijah Shelton finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds.