- Gainesville Hurricanes won 38-36 in overtime against Buchholz, with AJ Hall scoring 14 points including the only overtime field goal.
- Gainesville extended their winning streak to six games, improving their record to 12-11 after avenging a previous loss to Buchholz.
- Buchholz led 30-25 after the third quarter but scored only three points in the fourth, allowing Gainesville to tie and force overtime.
- The game ended when Buchholz's Lucas Bhatia missed a buzzer-beating 3-point shot, securing Gainesville's narrow victory.
It wasn’t pretty, but the Gainesville Hurricanes found a way to even the season series with rival Buchholz on Friday.
Senior AJ Hall scored 14 points, including Gainesville’s only field goal in the overtime period and the visiting Hurricanes held off a final 3-point attempt by Buchholz’s Lucas Bhatia to beat the Bobcats, 38-36, at Bud Seymour Gymnasium.
It was the sixth win in a row for Gainesville (12-11) and avenged a 51-38 loss to Buchholz at the Purple Palace on Dec.12.
“I was proud of the way we stuck with it because it was tough at times,” Gainesville coach Mike Barnes said. “We were lucky to get a stop there at the end. I thought Lucas’s shot may be going in, but it was just a bit off.”
It was a bit of an offensive struggle for both teams.
Bhatia hit back-to-back 3-pointers to start the game for the Bobcats (15-6). But those were the senior’s only points of the game. Gainesville had four players score in the opening period and led 10-8 after the first eight minutes.
Senior Daniel Muchnick came off the bench for Buchholz and hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the second period. But the Bobcats scored only two more points and Gainesville carried a 19-16 lead into halftime.
Buchholz came out hot in the third quarter. The Bobcats outscored the Hurricanes 14-6 to take a 30-25 advantage into the fourth quarter.
“They (Buchholz) got a little more comfortable with our defense in the third quarter,” Barnes said. “They made some shots, but again we stuck with it in the fourth quarter and got back in the game.”
Buchholz only scored three points in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, Hall got it going with 10 points in the second half, including a basket inside and two big free throws late in the fourth quarter. Gainesville junior Willie Brooks missed a 3-point attempt to win the game, and the two teams headed to the overtime period tied 33-33.
Hall had the only basket for Gainesville in the overtime period. Craig Thomas Jr., who finished with 10 points, also made two free throws. Senior Kyle Pinter made the first of two free throws for a 38-36 lead.
Down two after Pinter’s missed free throw with five seconds left, Buchholz had to go the length of the court and Bhatia missed a 30-footer from the left wing at the buzzer.
In their six-game winning streak, Gainesville has two-point wins over Eastside, Columbia and Buchholz.
“We have lost a lot of close games earlier in the year, but we’ve been turning that around lately,” Barnes said. “It’s been a trying season at times, but we are getting going at just the right time.”
