It was a bit of a strange day for local high school basketball teams on Saturday at the Eastside Shootout.
First of all, Eastside’s opponent in the final game of the day was scheduled to be Raines (Jacksonville). However, the Vikings, who won the 3A state title in football and are off to a 7-5 start in basketball, informed Eastside and head coach Herman “Pop” Williams that they couldn’t attend due to transportation issues from Jacksonville.
So Eastside played a team from Orlando instead, Scholars Prep, who had lost to Hawthorne 70-47 in the late afternoon game, turned around and played host Eastside in the 7:30 p.m. contest.
That game got ugly early and was called with 4:26 remaining in the fourth quarter, with Eastside leading 51-10, after the two teams had nearly gotten into a brawl.
The featured game of the day had Mainland (Daytona Beach), ranked third in 6A and 20th overall in Florida, according to MaxPreps, taking on Gainesville.
The Hurricanes continued to work senior Craig Thomas Jr., who injured his knee in December, back into the lineup against Mainland. But the Bucs (12-1) had no problem with the Hurricanes from the start as Mainland senior Beegie Gordon hit back-to-back 3-pointers and scored eight points in the opening period and six different players scored as the Bucs led 22-8 after the first period.
Mainland extended the lead to 35-16 at the half and extended its lead after the half, outscoring the Hurricanes 19-13 in the third quarter to go up 54-29, eventually winning the contest, 64-34. Canyon Powers led the Bucs with 15 points, Gordon added 11, Chevin Davis, Jr. chipped in 11 and Kade Manley was also in double figures with 10 points.
Antonio Hall led GHS (6-10) with 10 points, but didn’t play in the second half. This was Gainesville’s first game back in Alachua County after going 1-2 at a tournament in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, earlier this week.
The day started with Saint Francis Catholic losing its first game of the season, 72-49, to South Lake (Groveland). The Wolves (8-1) were led by Johan Powers with 14 points.
Buchholz was up next and had no problem with Lake Gibson (Lakeland), improving to 10-3 with a 58-36 triumph.
In the other featured game, Williston rolled past Leesburg, 63-45. The Red Devils improved to 8-4 and Leesburg fell to 9-5.
Hawthorne had four players in double figures in its 70-47 win over Scholars Prep (Orlando). Sophomore Shaun Bowie led the Hornets (2-3) with 18 points and junior Nathan Jennings added 13 points. Junior Dominick Harvey chipped in with 12 points and Ryan McLellon also scored 11 points. Hawthorne took control early, leading by 35-23 at halftime and 56-31 after three periods.
Following the Gainesville game, Eastside finally took the court and the Rams dominated. All 13 players played for Eastside (5-3) and 11 scored. Javion William led the Rams with 13 points.