
The Gainesville Hurricanes continued their dominance of Buchholz on Friday night, pulling away from the Bobcats for a 54-41 win at The Purple Palace.
Senior Cornelius White led three Hurricanes players in double figures with 22 points as Gainesville (17-6) won its sixth game in a row and beat the rival Bobcats for the 34th time in 41 meetings.
Friday night’s game went back and forth for most of the first half. Sophomore Willie Brooks and senior Aiden Bell knocked down treys and White had four points as the Hurricanes led Buchholz 12-9 after the opening period.
“We had a pretty good size advantage with Aiden and Corn and David (Osho) inside,” Gainesville coach Mike Barnes said. “Our wings and perimeter guys are pretty good size as well. We have an identity to get it inside now and it’s tough to guard.”
White scored six more points in the second period and Brooks knocked down another 3-pointer as Gainesville went on a 12-2 run to rally from a 16-15 deficit to a 27-18 halftime lead.
“Everybody is buying into their role in what they can do,” Barnes said. “I think we are rounding into form with next week being the final week of the regular season and then districts and the state tournament after that.”
Gainesville never trailed after that late second-quarter run. The Hurricanes held Buchholz to only seven third-quarter points and White and Brooks both nailed threes as Gainesville carried a 37-25 edge into the final period.
“I was extremely pleased how we played tonight considering we didn’t have much time to prepare,” Barnes said. “Because of school being closed we practiced early Tuesday but were off Wednesday and then played Columbia on Thursday night.”
Gainesville led by as many as 16 points in the final period as Cornelius White scored eight more points and was 4-for-4 from the free throw line and his younger brother, junior Cordarius White, scored five points.
Brooks had 12 points and Cordarius White 10 points to join Cornelius in double figures.
Junior Jamison McTureous led Buchholz (12-8) with 12 points and junior Evan Walker added 11.
Gainesville travels to unbeaten Newberry next Tuesday. Newberry stayed unbeaten with a win at Williston on Friday and is at Buchholz today.
“Obviously that’s a big game,” Barnes said. “Every game right now is a big game. They are having a good year and with everyone worried about rankings that would be a big game to win.”