'New-look' Elephants rally to beat Spartans

GAINESVILLE - Playing in Region 7-AAA South is tough enough, what with No. 1 East Hall and No. 7 Johnson also in the subregion.

But without three starters, against a dangerous West Hall team, is not exactly how the fourth-ranked Gainesville boys basketball team envisioned opening the new year Tuesday night.

The new-look Red Elephants, however, showed they have more depth than some have thought, tightening down the stretch and coming back twice to take a 67-61 win over the Spartans at the Gainesville High gym.

Even Gainesville coach Jerry Davis was a little impressed.

"We have some young players we've felt could play if they got some confidence and some playing time. Now they will," he said. "We definitely looked different out there, but we have to play with who we have. I like what I saw for the most part."

The Red Elephants were without Jon Mark Owings, out with a heel injury, and recently lost James Chester and Cory Wilmont to grades.

Gainesville (12-3, 1-0) fell behind early, 11-7, but then used a 21-6 run in the first and second quarters to open a 28-17 lead. But with several freshmen and sophomores on the floor for Gainesville, West Hall climbed back to with 48-44 at halftime.

The Spartans (9-4, 0-1) came out strong in the third quarter going on a 12-2 run to take a 44-36 lead. But the Elephants climbed back to within 52-47.

The pivotal play came when the Spartans stole the ball and looked to took a seven-point lead on a layup by Trey Smith. But Smith was called for charging, which negated the basket, and that sparked a 9-1 Gainesville run and a 56-53 lead.

West Hall tied the game at 56-56 on a 3-pointer by Israel Mata but Gainesville, behind four points each from Jeremy Little and Byron Williams, would go on a 9-2 run over the next four minutes to put the game away.

"I thought we showed a little bit at the end to be able to hold on. They have a good shooting team and we did a good job of limiting their shots," Davis said.

Little and Brent Benson each scored 15 points to lead Gainesville. It was the lowest point total of the year for Benson, who has avergaed nearly 30 points a game this season.

Williams, a sophomore, had a strong game inside in replacing Chester with 7 points and 7 rebounds. Tyler Musselwhite had 9 points for the Elephants.

West Hall got a game-high 24 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 assists from Trey Smith. Brooks finished with 12 points, 7 assists and 3 rebounds while Mata had 11 points, including three 3-pointers for the Spartans.