The Red Elephants dismantled a good East Hall team 92-62 in the Lanierland finals at Johnson High to earn their first title since 2001.
The win avenged a loss to East Hall earlier in the season. But the Red Elephants did not have their entire team available with several members just joining with the end of the football season.
Gainesville coach Todd Cottrell said it was the best performance of the season by far by his squad.
"We definitely played well," Cottrell said. "I thought our defense was pretty good and we hit some shots early that got us going. But East Hall probably didn't play their best game and that had a lot to do with the score. We're just happy to get the win.
"This was one of our team goals coming into the year so now we can move on from this. We still have a lot of things to work on as we get ready for region. This is just one game. But we're feeling pretty good right now."
Tournament-MVP Shaquan Cantrell led the way for Gainesville with 21 points, despite not playing in the fourth quarter after suffering what appeared to be an ankle injury. But he was walking around after the game with the Lanierland trophy.
Gainesville (8-4) never trailed and the game was tied just once, 3-3, in the early moments of the game. The quicker Red Elephants put the pressure on East Hall early and often forcing 17 first half turnovers. They used a 20-4 run to pull away for a 29-10 lead and extended it as much as 23 in the second quarter. Only a 9-2 East Hall run to close out the first half to trail just 49-33 kept the game close by halftime.
Unfortunately for the Vikings, the second half wasn't any better. Gainesville opened the third quarter with a 22-7 spurt for a 71-40 lead and increased it to 74-42 by the end of the third quarter.
East Hall coach Joe Dix said it's tempting to put this one behind them as they prepare for their region schedule and a trip to Alaska next month. It was the Vikings' (4-4) worse loss since a 89-50 defeat to Milton two years ago.
"They outplayed us and were a much better team than us tonight," Dix said. "I don't want them to forget this. I want them to remember what it feels like to get beat like this. Right now we're just an average team. We've been up and down all year. We have to get better if we want to beat good teams."
Javez Warren added 18 points, Lance White had 12, and Chase England and Deshaun Watson had 10 points each for the Elephants.
J.C. Hampton paced East Hall with 16 points. Hayden Chapman, T.D. Teasley, and Joe Berry each 12 points for the Vikings.
NOTES: East Hall's Brian Edwards won the Sportsman Award. Gainesville's Deshaun Watson, East Hall's Hampton and Berry, Chestatee's Jordan DeGraff, Flowery Branch's Jamaad Stephens, Johnson's Ty Odem, Austin Montgomery of Lakeview Academy, North Hall's Imani Cross, and West Hall's Hunter Atkinson all were named to the All-Tournament team.
FLOWERY BRANCH BOYS 58
NORTH HALL 57
Nick Wayne hit a running jumper with 4.8 seconds left to lift the Falcons to the win in the third place game Thursday in the Lanierland Tournament.
Wayne's basket capped a 5-0 run to end the game for Flowery Branch, which had seen a 12-point lead collapse early in the fourth quarter.
North Hall turned up its defensive pressure to spark a 16-1 second half run to get back in the game. The Trojans trailed 42-28 midway through the third quarter but forced a half-dozen Flowery Branch turnovers to spark their run and grab the lead, 44-43, in the fourth quarter.
North Hall then looked in control in the final minute taking a 57-53 lead on a pair of Ethan Smith free throws. But the Falcons' Jamaad Stephens hit a long 3-pointer to cut it to a one-point game with 18 seconds left and then Wayne followed with the game winner.
North Hall had one last chance but a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer by Smith bounced off the rim.
The game was tight in the first half with neither team leading by more than six points. Flowery Branch led 19-16 after the first quarter and took a 30-24 lead into halftime on the strength of a 8-1 run in the final two minutes.
The Falcons continued their good work to open the third quarter with a 10-4 spurt to run out to a 42-28 lead midway through the third quarter.
Stephens finished with 20 points to lead Flowery Branch. Wayne and Quinncy Hodges had nine points each for the Falcons.
Griffin Olson had 12 points on four 3-pointer to lead North Hall. Imani Cross and Adam Kelly had eight points apiece for the Trojans.
Shaquan Cantrell
Gainesville and East Hall face off in the Lanierland championship game on Thursday night in Oakwood. / photo: Brian Oliver
http://accesswdun.com/article/2011/12/244519