CUMMING — The No. 10 Gainesville boys beat Forsyth Central in every phase of the game to avenge the early season loss and return the favor on the Bulldogs' home floor Monday night, 55-35.
It's part of a five-game swing over the next eight days, and was a make-up game from a week ago that was postponed due to COVID-19. The win has Gainesville (15-6, 6-2 Region 6-7A) in the No. 2 spot in the standings with a massive game against region leader, South Forsyth, on Tuesday. The Red Elephants will travel to Cumming for the second straight day to take on the War Eagles. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m.
The Red Elephants jumped on the Bulldogs (5-10, 3-5 Region 6-7A) from the opening throw-in with in-your-face full-court defense and winning the board battle to rush to a 12-0 lead in the opening period.
Charlie Reisman scored seven points in the opening quarter to help push the lead up to 17-7 at the end of the first eight minutes. Unofficially, Gainesville out-rebounded Central 37-17.
Ced Nicely, who got the start for the injured Robert Reisman, paced the Red Elephants, in the first half, scoring 10 of his game-high 18 points. Nicely also gave the Red Elephants their largest lead with 5:19 left in the second quarter, 27-7, off a rebound and a bucket.
But the Bulldogs Dylan Thomas guided Central on a 13-4 run to the second quarter to cut the Red Elephants' lead to 11 points at the half, 31-20.
In the second half, the Bulldogs were sparked by a string of four shots from Thomas and Mac Lally's 3-point play with 3:11 to go in the third period, slashing the lead to eight points, 34, 26, the closest Central would get. The Bulldogs were 5 of 10 from the foul line in the quarter.
Charlie Reisman finished with 12 points, while Luke Blackburn added 8 and Eli Pitts and Sahmir King chipped in 6 each.
FORSYTH CENTRAL 54,
GAINESVILLE GIRLS 39
The Gainesville girls (12-9, 2-7 Region 6-7A) dug themselves out of an 18-6 first-quarter hole to battle back in the second quarter, but it got out of hand in the final period in the loss to the Bulldogs on the road.
Central (6-9, 3-6 Region 6-7A) gets the season sweep and is out of the Region 6-7A play-in game as of now, leaving the Red Elephants and Lambert at No. 6 and 7 in the standings.
Bulldog forward Elizabeth Pruitt was tough to handle inside for the Gainesville defense. She scored 10 points in the first half, 16 for the game, and pulled down 12 rebounds.
Gainesville rallied back from the first-quarter deficit and finished the opening quarter on a 5-0 run, thanks to Keke Jones's 3-point play.
Lauren Teasley and Alexis Austin fed off the later first quarter spark and continue the run in the first three minutes of the second period, cutting the Bulldogs' lead to just three points, 18-15, and eventually going into the locker room down 29-23.
But the Bulldogs, led by Jillian Bretz, who finished with 19 points, marched on an 8-1 spurt to go up 37-24 late in the third quarter and pushed it up to their largest lead, 52-37, in the fourth quarter. Gainesville scored just six points in the final period.
Lauren Teasley was the top scorer for Gainesville with 16 points, while Sadie Roach added 13.
