- Gainesville won 52-50 against Eastside with a last-second runner by junior Willie Brooks at The Purple Palace.
- This victory marked Gainesville's ninth consecutive win over their city rival Eastside.
- Assistant coach Pat Penny led Gainesville due to head coach Mike Barnes's suspension from an ejection earlier in the week.
- Eastside sophomore LaQuon Prunty led his team with 12 points, and both teams are scheduled to play at Buchholz on Saturday.
The 2025-26 season has been a roller coaster ride for the Gainesville boys basketball team.
But the Hurricanes can still find ways to beat their city rival, Eastside. On Friday night at The Purple Palace, GHS turned to junior Willie Brooks and his runner in the lane with 1.5 seconds left, lifting the host Hurricanes to a 52-50 win over Eastside.
It was the ninth win in a row for Gainesville (7-11) over Eastside (6-5), but it was a battle from the start in the first of two meetings between the city rivals.
Gainesville head coach Mike Barnes served a one-game suspension on Friday for his ejection in Tuesday’s loss to Hawthorne, so assistant coach Pat Penny filled in as the acting coach against Eastside. Penny was proud of the way Brooks stepped up for the winning shot.
“We had a play called, but Eastside disrupted it with their defense,” Penny said. “I was proud that instead of pulling up for a three-pointer, Willie took the ball down the lane to the basket because his shot hadn’t been falling much of the night. It was a great play.”
Brooks, who finished with nine points, started driving from deep on the left wing with about five seconds to go, went down the right side of the lane and put up a shot from inside 10 feet that rolled around the rim and fell in as the clock ran out.
Both teams struggled to shoot the ball in the first half as Eastside led 11-9 after the opening period.
The second period was more of the same, but Brooks went coast-to-coast for a layup before the halftime buzzer to give Gainesville a 22-21 halftime lead.
“It was tough in the first half for us,” Penny said. “But in the second half, AJ (Hall) and Craig (Thomas Jr.) both got it going and the offense picked up.”
Hall, who scored 29 points in the loss on Tuesday to Hawthorne, finished with 15 points, including four big free throws late in the fourth quarter. Thomas scored seven of his 14 points in the final period.
Eastside led by as many as nine early in the fourth quarter at 43-34, but the Hurricanes went on an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to one at 43-42, and the rest of the game was back and forth.
Eastside was led in scoring by sophomore LaQuon Prunty with 12 points. The Rams will take on Trenton at the Gatortown Showdown at Buchholz on Saturday.
Gainesville will play Suwannee on Saturday afternoon at Buchholz as well.
