GAINESVILLE — Gainesville senior D’Marcus Simonds admitted the Red Elephants were a humbled group coming into Wednesday’s Class AAAAA first round matchup with Villa Rica.
Just four days after being “embarassed” by Cedar Shoals in the Region 8-AAAAA championship game [a 70-48 loss], Simonds said they were ready to show their true colors.
They did, most of the time. The Red Elephants survived a wild first half shootout and then held on down the stretch for a 68-62 win over the Wildcats at the Gainesville gym.
Simonds poured in 33 points, including 25 of Gainesville’s 36 first half points, and made a quick statement that he and the other seniors were not ready to end their high school careers.
“The (region) championship game was a humbling experience for us. That really woke us up,” he said. “This is my last year here and I want to help bring something to the city. Gainesville took me in and I thank God for that and I want to give them something back.”
The first 11 minutes was a frenetic back-and-forth affair with 12 lead changes to go with eight ties. Simonds and the Wildcats’ Justus McWilliams also staged a mini-version of the Larry Bird-Dominique Wilkins duel during that span.
Simonds poured in 15 first quarter points, including two 3-pointers, while McWilliams had eight points. Simonds scored 19 of the Red Elephants first 25 points while McWilliams had 14 of the Wildcats first 27 points.
“We just try to see early in a game what the other team is going to do. If they’re going to play man on D’Marcus, which I think is always a mistake, then we’re going to try and take advantage of that,” Gainesville coach Benjie Wood said.
But it was a Michael White free throw with 5:01 left in the second quarter that gave Gainesville the final lead change of the game, 26-25. After McWilliams cut the lead to 28-27 on a stick-back basket, Simonds scored the final six points of the half, capped with an acrobatic spinning drive for a layup, to give the Red Elephants a 36-29 halftime lead.
Gainesville (21-5) continued its hot shooting to start the third quarter as Bailey Minor drained a 3-pointer to give them a 41-31 lead. A K.J. Buffen basket just seconds later following a Villa Rica turnover pushed the lead to 43-31, the biggest of the game.
The Wildcats did not go away, however. They manufactured a 17-7 run behind McWilliams and Noah Smith, who combined for eight points to cut the lead to 50-48 with 25 seconds left in the third quarter.
White once again provided the big blow with a 3-pointer at the buzzer to close out the third quarter for a 53-48 lead. The Red Elephants built a 61-52 lead midway through the fourth quarter on a Simonds free throw.
The Wildcats doubled up on Simonds most of the second half holding him to just one field goal and six free throws.
“They toughened up on me in the second half but I just facilitated (the ball) and the rest of the team stepped up,” Simonds said.
Villa Rica mounted one last rally pulling within 61-58 with 2:17 left but four different Gainesville players combined to go 7-for-8 from the free throw line to keep the Wildcats at bay.
Gainesville, which was ranked fourth in the final Class AAAAA poll of the season, will travel to Region 4-AAAAA champ and third-ranked McIntosh in the second round on the road. McIntosh destroyed Carver-Columbus, 100-69, after trailing 10-0 to start the game.
“I want to play McIntosh,” Simonds said. “If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best.”
Wood said getting the first-round win was priority No. 1 but also said there is plenty to work on if they truly want to make a deep run in the playoffs.
“The guys played hard. We played good defense in spurts but it is still a work in progress,” he said. “Our focus is on ourselves. I have always maintained that if we come out and play our brand of basketball, we can beat anyone.”
Buffen finished with eight points and Turner had seven for Gainesville.
McWilliams cooled off as well after his hot start finishing with 20 points to lead Villa Rica (18-10). Smith added 12 points and Tye Hill and Nigel Taylor had 10 each for the Wildcats.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2016/2/370870/class-aaaaa-simonds-leads-ghs-boys-into-sweet-16