Mike Ridaught
High school basketball holiday tournaments typically give schools an opportunity to play schools outside the area that they normally wouldn’t play against.
The same can be said for city schools Oak Hall School and Eastside, which had a rare meeting on the hardwood on Thursday.
On day two of the Hitchcock’s Challenge at Legacy Park Multipurpose Center in Alachua, the Eagles upset the Rams, 51-44, in what is believed to be Oak Hall’s “first city public school win in at least 25 years,” according to OHS assistant coach David Stirt, who noted it’s also the first time in his 27 years that the two schools met in boys basketball.
“I’m proud of our kids because they had a tough loss yesterday and had a tough game today and bounced back in under 24 hours and played a tough battle,” said Oak Hall boys basketball coach Monte Towe. “Pop’s (Williams) always got good players, they play tough, and it’s just a really good win for our program.”
On Wednesday, OHS trailed Dunnellon, 52-35, with 5:05 to play but rallied with a 17-1 run to move within one, 53-52, with 19 seconds to play before falling to the Tigers, 54-52, to drop into the consolation bracket.
Against the Rams (1-6) on Thursday, it was a see-saw game until the fourth quarter.
There were 10 lead changes in the first half, including the final lead change on a 3-pointer by 6’5 senior Andrew Powell (team-high 16 points) with 1.5 seconds to play to give the Eagles (7-3) a 21-18 lead at intermission.
In the second half, Oak Hall broke a 30-30 tie with a 3-pointer by Powell on a top of the key for a 33-30 lead with 40 seconds to play in the third quarter.
“This is his fourth year now and he’s just been a really good player,” Towe said. “He’s doing more on the floor than he’s ever done, he’s rebounding the ball, he’s making good passes, but he’s still scoring his points. We wouldn’t be near the offensive team that we are without Andrew. Even if he doesn’t have the ball they have to guard him somewhere because he can really hit the three.”
Following a free throw by junior Cole Snider, who scored six points off the bench for the Eagles, Eastside junior Kelvin Baker made a layup at the buzzer to bring the Rams within two, 34-32, with eight minutes to play.
Oak Hall then turned up its defense in the fourth quarter.
A fast break layup by senior Carter Dykes gave Oak Hall a 6-point lead early in the final period and he added another basket a few possessions later for a 42-35 lead.
The Eagles outscored the Rams 17-12 in the fourth quarter.
“We had some good stretches defensively, we stayed pretty consistent,” Towe said. “We gave up some offensive rebounds, we turned it over a little bit, but defensively I thought we did a real good job for really the whole game.”
Senior Quashawn Brittingham had a game-high 19 points to lead Eastside, which will play Blanche Ely (Pompano Beach) at the Florida Get Down New Year’s Showcase at 6 p.m. on Friday at St. Francis Catholic Academy.
Junior Gavin Jones and senior Carter Dykes scored 11 apiece for Oak Hall, which will face South Dade (Homestead) at 9:30 a.m. on Friday (Revised time).
Buchholz 56, P.K. Yonge 26 – Senior Palmer Walton scored 14 of this game-high 19 points in the first half as the Bobcats built a 30-point lead at the half and imposed a running clock midway through the third period.
“We lost two tough ones to two good teams so I was looking for energy today,” said Buchholz first-year coach Elliot Harris. “I started an unconventional lineup, it wasn’t necessarily what we normally start but I wanted to play some guys that were going to give me some energy, and so we started with energy.”
Walton hit three 3-pointers and scored 10 points in the first quarter to help set the tone.
“Palmer is our best player,” Harris said. “He shoots the ball really, really well, and when we look for him and try to get him shots, he’s normally going to knock down shots.”
Senior Will Stanaland ended the scoring in the first period on a 3-pointer with 11 seconds to play as the Bobcats (6-3) built an early 18-8 lead.
But it was the bench who would help put the game out of reach.
Following a pair of free throws by sophomore Jack Muller to bring the Blue Wave (6-5) within single digits at 18-10, Harris’ reserves delivered a 13-0 run.
Junior Cedric Collins started the run with a basket for a double-digit lead again.
Sophomore Jamison McTureous added a bucket and junior Kewan Hall scored seven of his nine points, including an and one for a 29-10 advantage.
Senior Gabe Thompson scored the final points of the run for a 31-10 lead.
“They played really well, and the message was ‘if you don’t play hard, you’re coming out’ and so we wanted to push the pace, and run really, really hard,” Harris said. “When we play with energy, we look really good, but when we walk the ball down and have to engineer offense it’s really tough for us.”
Alijah Bertrand led the Blue Wave with nine points off the bench.
Buchholz will play Columbia (Lake City) at 2 p.m. on Friday (Revised time). The Tigers (6-5) defeated South Dade (Homestead), 65-28, in the opening game of the day.
Scores
Day #2 – Thursday, Dec. 28
Hitchcock’s Challenge (Legacy Park Multipurpose Center in Alachua)
Buchholz 56, P.K. Yonge 26
Columbia (Lake City) 65, South Dade (Homestead) 28
Nease (Ponte Vedra) 72, The Rock 35
Oak Hall 51, Eastside 44
Santa Fe (Alachua) 49, Suwannee (Live Oak) 48
Kingdom of the Sun (Vanguard High School in Ocala)
Mariner (Cape Coral) 62, Hawthorne 57
Williston 42, Vanguard (Ocala) 30
Friday, Dec. 29
Hitchcock’s Challenge
9:30 a.m. – Oak Hall vs. South Dade (Homestead)
11 a.m. – The Rock vs. Suwannee (Live Oak)
2 p.m. – Buchholz vs. Columbia (Lake City)
5 p.m. – Santa Fe (Alachua) vs. Nease (Ponte Vedra)
Kingdom of the Sun
6:10 p.m. – Williston vs. Winter Haven
